Rupert Murdoch steps down as Fox and News Corp chairman

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66881306

by mellosouls • 3 years ago

51 51 3 years ago

bbc.co.uk

mmastrac• 3 years ago

There are not many people who have done worse things for this world than Rupert Murdoch. I cannot wish him anything but the karmic retribution for all the hate and suffering he's caused over the years.

The hilarious final paragraph where a billionaire is criticising the "elites" is just the icing on the cake:

He also criticised other media outlets as being "in cahoots" with a "rarefied class" of elites who he accused of "peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth".

seydor3• 3 years ago

I dont think 'wishing karmic retribution' is doing anything. We have been stuck in a world created in the 60s which is not changing because too old people have too much power and wealth. It wasn't alwasy like that and the current situation is a problem for a number of generations now. Age-based inequality needs to be seen as a societal problem.

EatingWithForks4• 3 years ago

I don't think age-based inequality makes the sense you think it does. Only a minority of older people are wealthy, imo, and mostly out of a function of the fact earning power accrues over time. But plenty of elderly people are actually homeless or forced to go back to working at Dollar General and Walmart.

It would be more accurate to target wealth inequality, which will disproportionately target the old wealthy people by nature (and also younger people who are wealthy through wealthy prior generation).

rsynnott• 3 years ago

a "rarefied class" of elites who he accused of "peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth".

Is that so, Rupert? A bit like this, perhaps?

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/28/1159819849/fox-news-dominion-...

https://gizmodo.com/fox-news-edits-trump-out-of-photo-with-j...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverage_of_the_Hillsborough_d...

I mean, it sounds very much like he's describing _his own_ media outlets.

(I think any media company should be very cautious of making claims like this, but it's particularly absurd coming from _bloody News Corp_).

lazide• 3 years ago

Projection isn’t just for movie theatres.

rcarr• 3 years ago

I think he has caused more damage across the Anglosphere than any outside enemy could ever wish for.

user39393822• 3 years ago

The entire corporate media is exactly as corrupt as this guy is.

drcongo3• 3 years ago

Before your comment gets downvoted to where it belongs, this is so spectacularly wrongheaded that maybe you should explain it.

hackyhacky4• 3 years ago

Do you consider Fox News to be something other than "corporate media?" Is News Corp. not a corporation? Are they motivated by something other than profit? Please let us know.

ericmcer• 3 years ago

Its true that other media outlets are doing it as well. Maybe each one believes they are manipulating and exploiting their audience in the "right" way?

I wish we could get more Cronkite style anchors, who prided themselves on delivering information to the public in an unemotional and straightforward manner. Instead we get emotionally charged news anchors who are trying to incite the strongest reactions they can get.

I always loved the video of Cronkite delivering the news of Kennedy's assassination. https://youtu.be/6PXORQE5-CY?si=papzPPt00V8GC6Hp&t=64

nurbl• 3 years ago

I think that is true, but somehow a "race to the bottom" has been going on and some are more guilty than others of setting it in motion. It can be quite hard not to get drawn into such a situation as a for-profit organisation, the perception is go along or die. But it's a choice, if nobody plays along there is no race.

minusf• 3 years ago

none of the news anchors should get the kind of dramatic powers they acquired over time. obligatory reference to Network (1976)

here is a fantastic analysis of Network and rise of the news anchors in the framing of Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlCLZIn38ao

the_snooze• 3 years ago

I wish we could get more Cronkite style anchors, who prided themselves on delivering information to the public in an unemotional and straightforward manner. Instead we get emotionally charged news anchors who are trying to incite the strongest reactions they can get.

A level-headed Cronkite-like figure would work well in an environment where "the media" knows to get out of the way when there isn't any urgent news to report (e.g., a 9/11-style emergency). But that doesn't make advertisers or shareholders happy, so we're stuck in a ratchet-up environment where EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT ALL THE TIME SO KEEP WATCHING KEEP WATCHING KEEP WATCHING!!!

hackyhacky4• 3 years ago

"Elites" is widely recognized to be a coded term for deniably referring to the Jews.

toomim2• 3 years ago

Please don't incite racism.

david38• 3 years ago

You might want to read a little more history

VikingCoder2• 3 years ago

Glenn Beck

Bill O'Reilly

Roger Ailes

Rush Limbaugh

Alex Jones

Tucker Carlson

Rupert Murdoch

Good riddance, all.

eql5• 3 years ago

Tucker has never been more successful: hundreds of millions of views on some of his latest twitter/X interviews.

stainablesteel2• 3 years ago

an even wider reach than before

he got something like 480m views on his latest interview with an argentinian presidential candidate

it 2x'd his interview with trump overnight

antisthenes• 3 years ago

For some reason he has an enormous following outside of the US.

Some of my friends in Eastern Europe are huge fans, but I can't really figure out why, to me he's just another conservative interviewer/host.

pornel• 3 years ago

Tweet views don't mean watching video, and are not comparable to TV viewers metric.

We'll see how this X-career pans out. Remember when Facebook used to report massive video viewership, and it turned out to be miscounted nonsense that ruined businesses that pivoted to videos on FB?

VikingCoder2• 3 years ago

That's like telling me that "We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty" calls have never been more successful.

Yes, he's getting impressions. But are people actually watching significant portions of the video? You have no idea at all.

And how's his revenue? That's only one way to measure success, but it's a pretty important one. And you have no idea at all.

MeteorMarc• 3 years ago

He is still chairman emeritus. We could find this means something different than it says.

standardUser• 3 years ago

As someone who grew up in the 80's and 90's in America, it's hard to overstate his influence. He was bringing limits-pushing programming (by broadcast standards) to the mainstream via Fox Broadcasting, which arguably had a major liberalizing impact on American culture, while simultaneously shifting the entire conservative movement sharply to the right with Fox News.

superchroma• 3 years ago

"In his memo to staff, the conservative Murdoch vowed to continue to be involved in the "contest of ideas"."

I would rather wish he didn't. Ah well, can't leave well enough alone. Hopefully the world can bid goodbye to the last of the sith lords one of these days.

Philorandroid2• 3 years ago

Hopefully the world can bid goodbye to the last of the sith lords one of these days.

It'd take a lot more than Murdock fading from the scene for that to happen. Don't fool yourself into thinking that all will be right in the world because ${prolific figure} is less involved in it. The Mafia didn't cease to exist after Capone, they just learned from his mistakes and didn't make showmen of themselves.

ishvanl• 3 years ago

Bugger. I was hoping for him to die in office, causing an executive power struggle and sending his media empire into calamitous decline.

glonq• 3 years ago

Rightfully, he should go down in the books as one of history's greatest monsters.

Philorandroid2• 3 years ago

That's a bit dramatic, isn't it? Compared to Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mengele, et al, the line of succession to history's greatest monster to Rupert Murdoch is pretty long.

halJordan• 3 years ago

In a word yes.

But also Murdoch is one of the driving forces in this brave new world where you have to be extreme to be acceptable. If it weren't for Murdoch, allegedly, we wouldn't need to call someone actually Hitler in order to be sufficiently devout to our partisanship.

The greatest irony of his success is that the same people who personally trumpet their visceral hate for Murdoch will also tell you with a straight face that the Great Man theory of history is harmfully and false and everyone is only a product of greater historical trends.

fabiofzero• 3 years ago

So, is Lachlan Roman Roy or Kendall Roy?

drcongo3• 3 years ago

Hope it's because he's dying of something incredibly unpleasant.

macintux• 3 years ago

Steve Jobs to Murdoch:

The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is conservative-destructive, and you've cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you're not careful.

shadowgovt• 3 years ago

Is he really stepping down this time, or is this another paper wall to try and isolate his prodigious assets from the responsibility of the criminal activity his media outlet engaged in?

It didn't work last time; I suppose it remains to be seen whether he's actually abrogating authority this time.

richliss• 3 years ago

Here's Fry & Laurie in 1995 telling the story of Rupert Murdoch's Soaraway Life:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xflqt2

Possibly NSFW

Rupert Murdoch steps down as Fox and News Corp chairman

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