Image of the week: Rupert goes to Reno
It has been billed as a “straight out of Succession” story, which might be expected given that the HBO drama was inspired by this precise saga. But the question of who gets control of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire after he dies has only grown more compelling since Succession wrapped. This month it reached its Reno era.
Arguments in the trial over Murdoch’s effort to change his family trust and hand sole control of his media interests to his eldest and most conservative son, Lachlan, concluded at the Washoe County Courthouse in the privacy-friendly Nevada city on Monday. At the time of writing, the billionaire and his children was still awaiting the ruling from the probate commissioner hearing the case.
Murdoch (93) owns about 40 per cent of the voting stock in both Fox News parent company Fox Corp and newspaper behemoth News Corp through a family trust – control of which was meant to have been split among his four oldest children: Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch.
But Murdoch snr concluded that Prue, Elisabeth and James were not sufficiently right-wing to have power over Fox, so they lawyered up and the “Lachlan only” plan ended up in probate court. Despite the behind-closed-doors aspect to proceedings, the ultimate outcome looks set to intrigue the parts of the media not owned by Murdoch – potentially for years.
In numbers: Meno silence
30%
Female professionals who say their employer provides support in the workplace for menopause, perimenopause and fertility issues, according to a survey by health insurer VHI.
80%
Women who believe such supports are crucial to managing menopause, perimenopause and fertility issues. However, only 43 per cent said their workplace had a culture where they could talk about these things.
38%
Free period products were the employer support most frequently cited by the 1,000 survey respondents. True “support” might mean a touch more than that – just a thought.
Getting to know: IPIE
You know a particular situation isn’t going terribly well when an international consortium has formed in order to make it less horrendous for everyone. So it goes with misinformation, disinformation and general fakery. A group called the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE), a group of more than 250 experts, models itself on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was formed late last year to provide “neutral assessments” that allow policymakers “to take meaningful action before it’s too late”. Algorithmic manipulation, bias, hate speech, misleading information, deep fakes and the rest of the nonsense represent “an existential threat to humanity”, IPIE says. Its survey of 412 academic researchers from 66 countries has now concluded that the biggest threat to online trust comes from none other than social media owners. With great unchecked power comes a great abdication of responsibility.
The list: Labour’s inheritance
The Murdoch children aren’t the only ones dealing with inheritance issues right now. In the UK, the Labour Party has been keen to mention at every possible opportunity the precise nature of what they have been bestowed by the Conservatives.
1. Difficult: The words “difficult inheritance” pops up so much – often followed by “black hole” – it’s only a surprise there aren’t T-shirts featuring the phrase on sale in the official shop.
2. Brittle and fragile: That’s the state of the country that Labour has inherited, UK prime minister Keir Starmer said in his big conference speech this week, before remembering to add that a Labour-governed UK would “rise above the challenges that we’ve inherited”.
3. Bleak: The legacy inherited from the Tories is “bleak”, said education secretary Bridget Phillipson, but she did get the memo on an optimistic tone, too, suggesting the best days were still ahead.
4. Farcical: “We inherited the farce of newly qualified GPs facing unemployment,” said health secretary Wes Streeting. “Patients can’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job.”
5. Monochrome: Chancellor Rachel Reeves got down to specifics in her speech, noting that UK government debt rose to 100 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in August, the highest since 1961. “That is the inheritance they have left, in black and white.”
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