1 00:00:06,005 --> 00:00:08,216 [dramatic string music playing] 2 00:00:09,175 --> 00:00:12,470 [man 1] The Murdoch succession battle has been like a soap opera 3 00:00:12,554 --> 00:00:15,432 that's been going on for, honestly, decades. 4 00:00:16,975 --> 00:00:19,686 [reporter 1] Bombshell news that the Murdochs have settled. 5 00:00:19,769 --> 00:00:22,313 [reporter 2] The long-running saga has reached a resolution. 6 00:00:23,773 --> 00:00:29,487 [man 2] It was about more than money. It was about power and Daddy's love. 7 00:00:29,571 --> 00:00:30,572 [reporter 3] Rupert! 8 00:00:30,655 --> 00:00:32,782 [man 2] Rupert got everything he wanted. 9 00:00:32,866 --> 00:00:34,159 [music pauses] 10 00:00:34,242 --> 00:00:35,660 And it ripped his family apart. 11 00:00:35,744 --> 00:00:38,371 -[horns beeping] -[music resumes] 12 00:00:41,750 --> 00:00:45,795 [woman 1] Family dynasties are incredibly hard to maintain. 13 00:00:45,879 --> 00:00:48,298 They tend to follow a traditional pattern, 14 00:00:48,381 --> 00:00:49,799 where you have a founder, 15 00:00:49,883 --> 00:00:52,677 then in the second generation, the real success, 16 00:00:52,761 --> 00:00:54,220 and in the third generation, 17 00:00:55,138 --> 00:00:56,639 things sort of fall apart. 18 00:00:58,475 --> 00:01:00,810 [man 1] These families have an enormous amount of power. 19 00:01:00,894 --> 00:01:04,105 [man 3] All this influence, all this wealth. 20 00:01:04,189 --> 00:01:05,815 [man 2] Flying in private jets 21 00:01:05,899 --> 00:01:08,651 with incredible properties all over the world. 22 00:01:09,194 --> 00:01:12,489 [woman 1] You have the Waltons in the US, who own Walmart. 23 00:01:12,572 --> 00:01:13,615 -Do solemnly… -Swear. 24 00:01:13,698 --> 00:01:15,283 -[man 3] The Bushes. -Please clap. 25 00:01:15,366 --> 00:01:16,576 [man 1] The Fords. 26 00:01:17,327 --> 00:01:19,370 [man 3] But of all these families, 27 00:01:19,454 --> 00:01:23,208 far and away the most influential is the Murdochs. 28 00:01:24,250 --> 00:01:26,920 [enigmatic string music playing] 29 00:01:28,088 --> 00:01:31,841 [man 4] Rupert Murdoch is a one-of-a-kind, brilliant businessperson. 30 00:01:31,925 --> 00:01:34,677 But he's also a villain for a lot of people. 31 00:01:34,761 --> 00:01:36,387 [man 5] Shame on you! 32 00:01:36,471 --> 00:01:41,309 [man 6] Murdoch's a… a proper danger to liberal democracies. 33 00:01:41,392 --> 00:01:42,685 I'm not making any comments. 34 00:01:42,769 --> 00:01:44,646 If liberal democracy is your thing. 35 00:01:45,647 --> 00:01:48,817 [Rupert Murdoch] Our company is a reflection of my thinking, 36 00:01:50,276 --> 00:01:52,403 my character, and my values. 37 00:01:52,487 --> 00:01:55,448 [exhaling deeply] 38 00:01:55,532 --> 00:01:57,158 [woman 2] Like most rich people, 39 00:01:57,242 --> 00:01:59,702 Rupert thinks he's gonna live beyond the grave, 40 00:02:00,203 --> 00:02:03,873 so he feels like he has to have control over his legacy, 41 00:02:03,957 --> 00:02:06,000 or it's the end of the empire. 42 00:02:07,210 --> 00:02:09,587 [Rupert] It's every father's natural desire 43 00:02:09,671 --> 00:02:12,298 to see his children follow him, if they're up to it. 44 00:02:13,091 --> 00:02:15,844 [man 2] For Rupert, there was the family, 45 00:02:15,927 --> 00:02:18,805 and there was the business, and they were never separate. 46 00:02:19,597 --> 00:02:23,226 [man 3] But this is part of the game that Rupert Murdoch has played with his family. 47 00:02:23,309 --> 00:02:25,395 [man 7] Tell us the best thing about your dad. 48 00:02:25,979 --> 00:02:26,896 See… 49 00:02:26,980 --> 00:02:29,732 [man 1] What's at stake here is billions of dollars. 50 00:02:29,816 --> 00:02:32,944 [man 2] And the most influential media property that's ever existed. 51 00:02:33,027 --> 00:02:36,656 So it's like a family squabble… 52 00:02:36,739 --> 00:02:39,033 [scoffs] …like, on steroids 53 00:02:39,117 --> 00:02:42,745 that has a huge effect on our politics and our lives. 54 00:02:42,829 --> 00:02:44,956 [music continues] 55 00:02:47,959 --> 00:02:49,961 [music ends] 56 00:02:51,546 --> 00:02:54,424 [man 1] I hate to do this, but to explain the Murdochs, 57 00:02:54,507 --> 00:02:59,095 you have to understand the television show Succession on HBO. 58 00:03:01,389 --> 00:03:05,768 It's about a dynastic media family strikingly like the Murdochs. 59 00:03:06,978 --> 00:03:10,023 There's a patriarch who's very much modeled on Rupert Murdoch, 60 00:03:10,106 --> 00:03:13,693 and just like the Murdoch kids, there are four children, 61 00:03:14,194 --> 00:03:16,237 each with their own little camp. 62 00:03:17,322 --> 00:03:19,824 And of course, the Murdoch children love the show, 63 00:03:20,408 --> 00:03:22,368 except for James, who claims not to watch it. 64 00:03:24,078 --> 00:03:26,706 Apparently Dad's sick. Uh, what do you mean he's sick? 65 00:03:26,789 --> 00:03:30,251 [Jim] So, in the last season in 2023, 66 00:03:30,335 --> 00:03:33,171 the Rupert character suddenly dies. 67 00:03:33,254 --> 00:03:35,548 Don't go, please. Not now. 68 00:03:36,049 --> 00:03:38,176 [Jim] The family goes into a tailspin. 69 00:03:38,676 --> 00:03:40,595 -They are not ready. -I'm welling up. 70 00:03:40,678 --> 00:03:43,806 [Jim] Succession isn't settled. The stock price is crashing. 71 00:03:43,890 --> 00:03:46,017 My father, Logan Roy, was pronounced dead… 72 00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:48,478 [man 2] No one has any idea what to do. 73 00:03:48,561 --> 00:03:50,230 Who's gonna speak at the funeral? 74 00:03:50,313 --> 00:03:52,982 Who's gonna take over the company? It's a mess. 75 00:03:54,609 --> 00:03:58,488 Elisabeth's representative, Mark Devereux, is watching the show, 76 00:03:59,364 --> 00:04:01,658 and Mark finds himself in a panic. 77 00:04:02,158 --> 00:04:05,495 "Oh my God. That could happen to us. We haven't thought about any of this." 78 00:04:05,578 --> 00:04:06,746 It's good to see you. 79 00:04:06,829 --> 00:04:10,416 [Jonathan] It's important to understand, though Rupert is well into his nineties, 80 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:13,169 he hates talking about his mortality. 81 00:04:14,212 --> 00:04:18,091 There's this kind of mythology within Rupert Murdoch's companies 82 00:04:18,174 --> 00:04:19,676 that he's never gonna die. 83 00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:21,219 That he's immortal. 84 00:04:21,719 --> 00:04:25,598 There's been no discussion of memorials, of burial. 85 00:04:25,682 --> 00:04:28,059 You… you… you just can't go there with Rupert. 86 00:04:29,018 --> 00:04:34,315 So Mark calls Liz and says, "Oh my God, have you seen this episode?" 87 00:04:34,399 --> 00:04:37,193 And she's already seen it twice. [chuckles softly] 88 00:04:37,277 --> 00:04:39,237 And she also panics. 89 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,281 "You have to do something." 90 00:04:41,781 --> 00:04:46,160 So Mark Devereux starts to write what will become the Succession Memo. 91 00:04:50,164 --> 00:04:53,126 It lays out, "Here are the things you have to start thinking about." 92 00:04:53,626 --> 00:04:56,004 "What is gonna happen when Rupert dies?" 93 00:04:57,088 --> 00:05:00,800 [Jonathan] Who will speak at the funeral? What will happen with the companies? 94 00:05:02,468 --> 00:05:05,346 And this memo is circulated among the children. 95 00:05:05,847 --> 00:05:09,183 And the idea is that they are going to begin this conversation, 96 00:05:09,267 --> 00:05:13,980 if not with their father, then at least on the margins around their father. 97 00:05:14,939 --> 00:05:17,650 [Jim] Liz says, "This has to be sorted out now." 98 00:05:18,151 --> 00:05:20,570 "The future of the family depends on it." 99 00:05:27,243 --> 00:05:30,496 [man 3] Since they were kids, the Murdochs had been raised 100 00:05:30,580 --> 00:05:35,084 with this idea that their father built this media empire 101 00:05:35,168 --> 00:05:41,549 in a kind of swashbuckling, risk it all, gonzo manner 102 00:05:41,632 --> 00:05:44,344 that, uh, Rupert is really proud of. 103 00:05:45,428 --> 00:05:48,890 [man 4] This is a theme that runs all through Rupert's career. 104 00:05:49,390 --> 00:05:53,144 It's the outsider, it's the underdog, taking on the elite. 105 00:05:54,896 --> 00:06:00,151 And that was established early on when he first arrived in London in 1969. 106 00:06:05,198 --> 00:06:08,826 [man 5] When Rupert arrived in Britain, no one took him very seriously. 107 00:06:10,119 --> 00:06:12,705 Which is the mistake everyone's made about Murdoch to this point. 108 00:06:13,414 --> 00:06:15,208 [man 6] As a young man in Australia, 109 00:06:15,291 --> 00:06:18,711 he had acquired a number of Australian newspapers 110 00:06:18,795 --> 00:06:21,881 and had just married his second wife, Anna Torv Murdoch. 111 00:06:21,964 --> 00:06:26,010 [reporter 1] Anna was a reporter on one of his Australian newspapers. 112 00:06:26,511 --> 00:06:29,013 She is quite capable of coping with the tricky job 113 00:06:29,097 --> 00:06:31,516 of being wife to an ambitious man. 114 00:06:31,599 --> 00:06:35,228 I think that being the wife of a tycoon must be 115 00:06:35,728 --> 00:06:36,771 awful, really. 116 00:06:36,854 --> 00:06:40,274 Well, first of all, I don't like him being called a tycoon. 117 00:06:40,775 --> 00:06:43,569 And secondly, it is awful sometimes and it is lonely, 118 00:06:43,653 --> 00:06:45,321 and you are cut out of it. 119 00:06:45,405 --> 00:06:47,740 But I don't think I'd change it for anything at all. 120 00:06:49,450 --> 00:06:52,578 I think newspapers are in his blood. He's fascinated by them. 121 00:06:54,288 --> 00:06:55,873 By the presses rolling. 122 00:06:56,874 --> 00:06:58,418 Seeing it on the street. 123 00:06:59,293 --> 00:07:01,045 Watching what other people read. 124 00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:05,675 He catches the tube in the morning, and he doesn't take the papers. 125 00:07:05,758 --> 00:07:07,260 He has read them all here. 126 00:07:08,219 --> 00:07:09,804 And he sits in a little corner 127 00:07:10,304 --> 00:07:13,724 and watches the dolly birds in London with their miniskirts… [chuckles] 128 00:07:13,808 --> 00:07:14,851 …and what they're reading. 129 00:07:15,726 --> 00:07:18,563 He's like a good Australian businessman, who's come here, 130 00:07:18,646 --> 00:07:20,565 "I'm going to show you how to do it." 131 00:07:20,648 --> 00:07:21,524 [camera clicks] 132 00:07:21,607 --> 00:07:23,818 [David] Murdoch decides that the British Establishment 133 00:07:23,901 --> 00:07:26,404 needs to be shaken up and disrupted. 134 00:07:27,947 --> 00:07:32,452 So he buys a fading left-of-center British tabloid 135 00:07:32,535 --> 00:07:34,078 called the News of the World. 136 00:07:34,745 --> 00:07:37,540 [reporter 1] Murdoch took over the News of the World in January. 137 00:07:38,332 --> 00:07:41,544 Since then, its circulation has risen by more than half a million. 138 00:07:41,627 --> 00:07:44,380 [reporter 2] Critics claim it has lowered the standards of Fleet Street. 139 00:07:44,464 --> 00:07:47,592 [reporter 3] The demon king of journalism. Rupert Murdoch. 140 00:07:47,675 --> 00:07:50,219 Rupert in Britain is called "the dirty digger." 141 00:07:50,303 --> 00:07:53,306 The British Establishment sees him 142 00:07:53,389 --> 00:07:58,060 as playing to the basest interests and appetites of the British public. 143 00:07:59,061 --> 00:08:02,106 People said, "He's destroying British newspapers." 144 00:08:02,190 --> 00:08:06,110 But actually he wasn't. He was making them fun, 145 00:08:06,777 --> 00:08:08,488 and people responded to that. 146 00:08:10,031 --> 00:08:12,658 [Rupert] I'm not ashamed of any of my newspapers at all. 147 00:08:12,742 --> 00:08:16,662 And I'm rather sick of snobs who tell us that they're bad papers. 148 00:08:17,163 --> 00:08:20,917 Snobs who, um, only read papers that no one else wants. 149 00:08:24,086 --> 00:08:27,798 [reporter 1] Murdoch's London home is in a fashionable square near Hyde Park. 150 00:08:28,883 --> 00:08:32,136 Anna has settled down somewhat uneasily to English life 151 00:08:32,220 --> 00:08:33,804 with her one-year-old daughter. 152 00:08:34,305 --> 00:08:37,308 Anna provides Rupert with a lovely family. 153 00:08:37,892 --> 00:08:41,062 Elisabeth, named after Rupert's mother, is born first. 154 00:08:42,063 --> 00:08:45,942 Lachlan and James arrive, each in sequence, a couple of years later. 155 00:08:46,567 --> 00:08:50,696 And with Prudence, who is the product of his first marriage in Australia, 156 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:53,783 the Murdochs become prominent figures. 157 00:08:55,243 --> 00:08:57,036 Prominent enough that they're targeted. 158 00:08:57,745 --> 00:08:59,163 [reporter 1] A recent profile said 159 00:08:59,247 --> 00:09:03,459 that you belong to the brash, masculine Australian tradition. 160 00:09:03,543 --> 00:09:05,044 Is that how you see yourself? 161 00:09:05,127 --> 00:09:08,464 Brash? I don't know. Judge for yourself. Um… 162 00:09:08,548 --> 00:09:11,384 [Paddy] He got a lot of publicity, and he does an interview 163 00:09:11,467 --> 00:09:15,763 which then is seen by two men, the Hosein brothers. 164 00:09:15,846 --> 00:09:17,848 [suspenseful music playing] 165 00:09:19,642 --> 00:09:25,273 It shows Rupert's Rolls-Royce turning up at the offices of the News of the World, 166 00:09:25,940 --> 00:09:29,777 and the Hosein brothers go, "That guy's rich," 167 00:09:29,860 --> 00:09:32,780 and they come up with a plan to kidnap his wife. 168 00:09:35,074 --> 00:09:38,035 One day, they follow the Rolls-Royce. 169 00:09:39,245 --> 00:09:42,707 [David] But they don't know that the Murdochs have loaned their Rolls-Royce 170 00:09:42,790 --> 00:09:45,584 to the family of one of Murdoch's executives. 171 00:09:49,505 --> 00:09:53,926 And the executive's wife, Muriel McKay, is kidnapped instead. 172 00:09:55,428 --> 00:09:57,930 So the Hosein brothers are in a bind. 173 00:09:58,014 --> 00:10:01,350 They've kidnapped the wrong person. They don't know what to do with her. 174 00:10:01,434 --> 00:10:05,521 [reporter 4] More than 100 policemen will begin an even more intense search 175 00:10:05,605 --> 00:10:08,357 of the farm buildings and surrounding fields. 176 00:10:09,442 --> 00:10:12,403 [David] The brothers were ultimately apprehended by police, 177 00:10:12,987 --> 00:10:15,906 but the body of Muriel McKay was never found. 178 00:10:19,660 --> 00:10:21,996 [Paddy] And for the Murdochs, it was also traumatic 179 00:10:22,079 --> 00:10:27,460 because they knew that the attempt had been on Anna Murdoch's life. 180 00:10:27,543 --> 00:10:29,712 [interviewer 1] You were the intended target. 181 00:10:29,795 --> 00:10:33,632 -Yes. Mm-hm. -[interviewer 1] That must be a nightmare. 182 00:10:34,467 --> 00:10:37,970 It wasn't so bad for us as it was for Alick McKay. 183 00:10:38,054 --> 00:10:40,306 Uh, but certainly one has to think about it. 184 00:10:40,389 --> 00:10:45,061 And it colored my time there in Britain after that happened. 185 00:10:45,770 --> 00:10:49,982 [David] It shakes their sense that Britain is a safe place for them to be. 186 00:10:50,066 --> 00:10:53,986 She worries about her own safety, but she really worries about her children. 187 00:10:56,697 --> 00:11:00,409 -[interviewer 1] Was that why you left? -Um, partly. 188 00:11:00,493 --> 00:11:02,787 [tense music playing] 189 00:11:06,707 --> 00:11:09,752 [Paddy] The details are very sketchy, but one night, 190 00:11:10,753 --> 00:11:13,506 Anna Murdoch is driving her own car, 191 00:11:14,006 --> 00:11:17,385 and there was an elderly woman trying to cross the road, 192 00:11:18,594 --> 00:11:21,097 and she hit the woman and killed her. 193 00:11:21,180 --> 00:11:23,516 [tense music continues] 194 00:11:23,599 --> 00:11:25,685 [siren wailing] 195 00:11:25,768 --> 00:11:28,896 No media did publish the details. 196 00:11:30,356 --> 00:11:33,109 I mean, this terrible accident happened 50 years ago, 197 00:11:34,735 --> 00:11:37,405 and we still don't know very much about it. 198 00:11:38,906 --> 00:11:43,953 This is a terrible tragedy, and it shakes Anna to her core. 199 00:11:45,329 --> 00:11:48,874 [Paddy] First, there had been the attempt on her life. 200 00:11:49,667 --> 00:11:52,128 And the accident is the last straw. 201 00:11:53,212 --> 00:11:56,340 Anna Murdoch is desperate to leave England behind her. 202 00:11:56,882 --> 00:11:58,926 [music ends] 203 00:12:02,555 --> 00:12:04,557 [interviewer 1] You went to America with the family? 204 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:06,684 [Anna] Yes, I took my children to New York. 205 00:12:09,437 --> 00:12:12,148 [Paddy] The Murdochs moved to a fabulous apartment 206 00:12:12,231 --> 00:12:14,567 just across the road from Central Park. 207 00:12:15,484 --> 00:12:17,820 [McKay] It was this penthouse apartment 208 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,364 that had a private elevator, 209 00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:25,953 and a butler named George who catered to every whim. 210 00:12:26,454 --> 00:12:30,833 Anything that they could ever want or need was given to them. 211 00:12:32,084 --> 00:12:34,962 [woman 1] I suppose we lived a very privileged lifestyle 212 00:12:35,045 --> 00:12:37,757 comparative to some of the people that we grew up with, 213 00:12:38,257 --> 00:12:40,968 but we didn't think of ourselves as special at all. 214 00:12:42,094 --> 00:12:45,055 The kids were afforded every luxury imaginable. 215 00:12:46,432 --> 00:12:50,060 They had the best educations. They went to the best schools. 216 00:12:51,562 --> 00:12:55,441 So they were all a part of this ecosystem 217 00:12:55,524 --> 00:13:00,905 of the most wealthy and powerful people in the city. 218 00:13:02,490 --> 00:13:06,869 Tell us about your father a little bit. Tell us the best thing about your dad. 219 00:13:07,495 --> 00:13:09,371 -The best thing? -[man 7] Yes. 220 00:13:09,455 --> 00:13:10,623 Um… 221 00:13:10,706 --> 00:13:11,582 Let's see. 222 00:13:12,750 --> 00:13:13,709 Um… 223 00:13:13,793 --> 00:13:16,045 Well, he always likes to go camping with us. 224 00:13:16,128 --> 00:13:17,129 And we'll go… 225 00:13:17,213 --> 00:13:20,841 Actually, we're going camping after the Olympics for a week. 226 00:13:20,925 --> 00:13:22,760 [man 7] Does he spend a lot of time with you? 227 00:13:22,843 --> 00:13:23,719 Yes. 228 00:13:26,388 --> 00:13:29,225 [McKay] When James and Lachlan were really young, 229 00:13:29,308 --> 00:13:31,185 they were treated almost like twins. 230 00:13:31,268 --> 00:13:33,687 They were only born 15 months apart, 231 00:13:33,771 --> 00:13:37,107 and as little boys, they were almost inseparable. 232 00:13:38,025 --> 00:13:42,112 They liked to play knights together and build forts 233 00:13:42,196 --> 00:13:45,824 and, you know, get into little-boy trouble together. 234 00:13:46,825 --> 00:13:52,248 When they argued, Rupert almost welcomed the competition between his children. 235 00:13:52,331 --> 00:13:55,918 He never stepped in to stop it. He just let them fight. 236 00:13:56,961 --> 00:14:00,297 [interviewer 2] When you were growing up, was there a pecking order in the family? 237 00:14:01,674 --> 00:14:04,718 No, I used to beat them up a lot, but… [chuckles] 238 00:14:04,802 --> 00:14:07,179 Um, but we were always a very, very close family. 239 00:14:09,348 --> 00:14:10,516 [McKay] For the Murdochs, 240 00:14:10,599 --> 00:14:14,895 family life was organized around Rupert's professional world, 241 00:14:14,979 --> 00:14:16,689 where he was king of the castle. 242 00:14:18,524 --> 00:14:21,777 [man 8] From a very early age, seven years old and eight years old, 243 00:14:21,861 --> 00:14:25,447 we began to understand that we were part of the media business. 244 00:14:26,532 --> 00:14:30,202 Liz, James, and I would come for breakfast before we had to get the bus to school, 245 00:14:30,286 --> 00:14:32,621 and all the papers would come out. 246 00:14:33,122 --> 00:14:36,458 And as we read the papers, my dad would be handing out stories to us. 247 00:14:36,542 --> 00:14:39,795 He'd say, "Read that." Or, "That's a shocking headline." 248 00:14:41,338 --> 00:14:45,217 [McKay] All of the kids wanted Rupert's attention, 249 00:14:45,301 --> 00:14:48,596 and there was a finite amount of it to go around, 250 00:14:48,679 --> 00:14:52,850 so invariably, the kids ended up competing for it. 251 00:14:53,892 --> 00:14:57,479 [Elisabeth] We knew that you had to be part of that world in some ways 252 00:14:57,563 --> 00:14:59,648 if you were going to be engaged with him. 253 00:14:59,732 --> 00:15:01,066 [phone ringing] 254 00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:05,696 [McKay] James told me this story about how his dad was always so distracted 255 00:15:05,779 --> 00:15:08,949 and would often not respond to James when he was talking. 256 00:15:10,242 --> 00:15:13,203 James once asked his mom, "Is Daddy going deaf?" 257 00:15:15,331 --> 00:15:17,249 "No, he's just not listening." 258 00:15:19,418 --> 00:15:21,629 [woman 2] Rupert is always moving, 259 00:15:21,712 --> 00:15:24,840 and like a shark, you die if you stop moving. 260 00:15:25,466 --> 00:15:28,177 He asks himself, "What do my competitors know?" 261 00:15:28,260 --> 00:15:30,471 "What do I know that they don't know?" 262 00:15:30,554 --> 00:15:33,349 Three blocks, you make a left. You follow that down and… 263 00:15:33,432 --> 00:15:36,685 [woman 3] What Rupert liked about America was it wasn't old. 264 00:15:36,769 --> 00:15:38,562 It wasn't stuck in the past. 265 00:15:38,646 --> 00:15:41,148 He saw a huge landscape he could paint on. 266 00:15:43,233 --> 00:15:47,196 And that's exciting for an entrepreneur. He could do whatever he wanted. 267 00:15:48,822 --> 00:15:52,242 [man 9] Murdoch bought the New York Post in 1976, 268 00:15:52,326 --> 00:15:55,829 and on the very first day that Rupert took over the paper, 269 00:15:56,330 --> 00:15:58,666 door bursts open at 6:00 a.m. in the morning, 270 00:15:58,749 --> 00:16:00,334 and he just walks in. 271 00:16:00,417 --> 00:16:02,336 There's things he wants changed. 272 00:16:03,671 --> 00:16:05,506 [Jim] What Murdoch wants to do 273 00:16:05,589 --> 00:16:11,053 is to win over the white working class who are reading the Daily News. 274 00:16:11,136 --> 00:16:13,430 He's gonna draw them to the New York Post. 275 00:16:13,973 --> 00:16:17,768 And in 1977, he got his chance. 276 00:16:18,268 --> 00:16:20,562 -[electricity crackles] -[people groaning] 277 00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:23,357 [reporter 5] We bring you the following NBC News Special Report. 278 00:16:24,066 --> 00:16:25,818 Darkness takes the city. 279 00:16:25,901 --> 00:16:27,069 [helicopter whirring] 280 00:16:27,152 --> 00:16:28,529 The New York City area 281 00:16:28,612 --> 00:16:30,823 and its ten million people were blacked out. 282 00:16:31,699 --> 00:16:34,702 And tonight, large parts of the city still are without power. 283 00:16:34,785 --> 00:16:36,203 [siren wailing] 284 00:16:36,286 --> 00:16:38,914 [Dick] There was looting, there was crime, 285 00:16:38,997 --> 00:16:42,626 and people felt that New York was just out of control. 286 00:16:43,460 --> 00:16:46,714 [Jim] The big columnists at all the papers were out in the streets, 287 00:16:46,797 --> 00:16:50,050 and many reporters were liberal in their views about these things. 288 00:16:50,134 --> 00:16:51,760 [people clamoring] 289 00:16:51,844 --> 00:16:53,470 And they are writing about 290 00:16:53,554 --> 00:16:58,016 how the blackout has brought inequality in the city to the surface. 291 00:16:59,101 --> 00:17:02,855 So Rupert brings in his favorite correspondent, Steve Dunleavy, 292 00:17:03,689 --> 00:17:06,275 and Dunleavy knows the story that Rupert wants. 293 00:17:08,027 --> 00:17:10,571 He sees it through the eyes of the cops. 294 00:17:11,488 --> 00:17:15,284 "I'll go to the poor neighborhood, write about the breakdown in law and order." 295 00:17:15,367 --> 00:17:17,536 [tense music playing] 296 00:17:19,371 --> 00:17:21,749 Playing to the white-flight crowd. 297 00:17:21,832 --> 00:17:23,375 [music ends] 298 00:17:24,042 --> 00:17:26,545 And it works. It sells papers. 299 00:17:28,088 --> 00:17:32,134 So Rupert says, "That's what my newspaper's gonna be." 300 00:17:32,217 --> 00:17:35,220 [seller 1] Get your Post here. New York Post here. Only a quarter. 301 00:17:35,304 --> 00:17:39,975 [Jim] He's building a new constituency. White, working-class readers. 302 00:17:40,893 --> 00:17:43,562 But with a populist, right-leaning slant. 303 00:17:44,813 --> 00:17:50,402 [woman 4] Pre-Murdoch, the Post was a blue-collar but educated readership. 304 00:17:50,486 --> 00:17:52,446 I don't know what comes after blue collar, 305 00:17:52,529 --> 00:17:55,324 but whatever the color of the collar is, that's… [laughs] 306 00:17:55,407 --> 00:17:57,951 …that's where Rupert Murdoch took it. 307 00:17:58,452 --> 00:18:00,204 If you don't do what I want, then 308 00:18:00,704 --> 00:18:03,499 it's gonna be your fault, not my fault, if it doesn't work. 309 00:18:04,082 --> 00:18:07,002 Rupert was making the New York Post like his British tabloids 310 00:18:07,086 --> 00:18:11,924 with lots of sex, lots of crime, sensationalist headlines. 311 00:18:12,007 --> 00:18:14,051 [Dick] "Headless body in topless bar." 312 00:18:14,134 --> 00:18:15,469 That's still legendary. 313 00:18:16,053 --> 00:18:18,931 [man 10] He is doing a very good job, a superb job, 314 00:18:19,014 --> 00:18:23,268 and, uh, all his publications are more interesting than they have been. 315 00:18:24,603 --> 00:18:28,273 [Dick] The Post went from 400,000 circulation to a million. 316 00:18:29,358 --> 00:18:32,110 And we went from being this quiet little paper 317 00:18:32,194 --> 00:18:34,863 to being this paper that became controversial. 318 00:18:35,447 --> 00:18:37,241 [seller 2] Read all about it. Get your Post. 319 00:18:37,324 --> 00:18:40,994 And everybody either loved us or hated us. 320 00:18:41,078 --> 00:18:43,455 You run a sleazy newspaper. 321 00:18:43,539 --> 00:18:44,498 Not true. 322 00:18:44,581 --> 00:18:47,543 [Paddy] Rupert became a villain for a lot of people. 323 00:18:47,626 --> 00:18:50,212 -[man 11] Rupert Murdoch. -[woman 5] Controversial publisher. 324 00:18:50,295 --> 00:18:52,840 [man 12] The tabloids have given Murdoch his reputation. 325 00:18:52,923 --> 00:18:55,175 [man 13] …sensational newspapers in the world. 326 00:18:55,717 --> 00:19:01,849 But that disdain that sort of polite society had for Rupert Murdoch 327 00:19:01,932 --> 00:19:06,812 actually helped bring the kids together and bring the family together. 328 00:19:06,895 --> 00:19:08,147 This is my son James. 329 00:19:08,230 --> 00:19:10,232 [man 7] Are you in the newspaper business too? 330 00:19:10,315 --> 00:19:11,733 -I wanna be. -[man 7] Do you? 331 00:19:11,817 --> 00:19:13,193 -Yeah. -Tell us about your dad. 332 00:19:13,277 --> 00:19:15,946 We know him through the papers. How would you describe your dad? 333 00:19:16,029 --> 00:19:16,989 Um… 334 00:19:17,072 --> 00:19:21,577 Well, different from what the newspapers say and the TV shows. 335 00:19:22,077 --> 00:19:26,665 Well, I think the, um, the papers and the shows about him and stuff 336 00:19:26,748 --> 00:19:32,129 make him look a little, like, too mean and dark and sinister. 337 00:19:32,212 --> 00:19:36,758 And really, he's a really nice person. A fun person. 338 00:19:36,842 --> 00:19:37,843 -Sometimes, eh? -Yeah. 339 00:19:37,926 --> 00:19:38,969 When you behave. 340 00:19:39,052 --> 00:19:41,054 [quirky music playing] 341 00:19:43,307 --> 00:19:45,893 [Lachlan] I remember one cover of Time magazine, 342 00:19:45,976 --> 00:19:50,272 uh, that had my father as King Kong on top of the World Trade Center 343 00:19:50,355 --> 00:19:53,233 with, you know, little biplanes trying to shoot him down. 344 00:19:53,317 --> 00:19:55,444 And that was the first memory that I have 345 00:19:55,527 --> 00:19:58,864 that, well, you know, the other dads at school, 346 00:19:58,947 --> 00:20:03,952 uh, weren't on the cover of Time magazine, portrayed as this monster. 347 00:20:04,745 --> 00:20:06,705 [Sarah] All these kids were very aware 348 00:20:06,788 --> 00:20:12,169 of the disapproval that many New Yorkers had for their father. 349 00:20:12,252 --> 00:20:16,298 And so it was something that forged their identity. 350 00:20:16,381 --> 00:20:20,636 I mean, Liz told me that if you see people constantly attacking your father, 351 00:20:20,719 --> 00:20:22,054 you wanna band together. 352 00:20:22,971 --> 00:20:24,514 And that's what they did. 353 00:20:25,015 --> 00:20:26,475 At least for a while. 354 00:20:29,186 --> 00:20:32,314 It's always been the kids' destiny. They're going to run the company. 355 00:20:32,397 --> 00:20:34,358 They're told that from a very early age. 356 00:20:35,192 --> 00:20:39,446 "One day, one of you will be running the Murdoch empire." 357 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:42,783 They don't know who. They know they're gonna have to compete. 358 00:20:42,866 --> 00:20:44,743 [dynamic music playing] 359 00:20:44,826 --> 00:20:48,246 [David] This is part of the game that Rupert Murdoch has played with his family. 360 00:20:49,873 --> 00:20:53,418 [Paul] It's gonna be a long battle. They're gonna have to prove themselves. 361 00:20:53,919 --> 00:20:56,755 [Paddy] And so, as competitors for Rupert's affections, 362 00:20:56,838 --> 00:20:58,840 and ultimately for the succession… 363 00:20:59,341 --> 00:21:01,343 [music intensifies, ends] 364 00:21:01,426 --> 00:21:04,096 …all the kids have played a different game. 365 00:21:04,179 --> 00:21:05,180 [camera clicks] 366 00:21:05,264 --> 00:21:07,474 [David] First and foremost, we have Prudence. 367 00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:11,603 [McKay] Prue was from a previous marriage, had a different mother. 368 00:21:11,687 --> 00:21:14,648 So that made her feel like a little more of an outsider. 369 00:21:16,984 --> 00:21:18,777 [David] Prudence, relatively early on, 370 00:21:18,860 --> 00:21:21,571 decides she doesn't wanna be a major player in this. 371 00:21:22,281 --> 00:21:24,825 [woman 6] You know, it's a big buzz being around Dad. 372 00:21:24,908 --> 00:21:27,035 You know, it's very exciting what he does. 373 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,622 And I'm sure, if I'd been around him longer, 374 00:21:30,706 --> 00:21:32,541 I may well have wanted to do that. 375 00:21:32,624 --> 00:21:35,669 But I always wanted to be independent. 376 00:21:38,088 --> 00:21:40,132 [David] Next up is Elisabeth. 377 00:21:42,634 --> 00:21:44,845 [interviewer 2] He has said that, of his children, 378 00:21:44,928 --> 00:21:46,555 you're the one who's most like him. 379 00:21:46,638 --> 00:21:48,098 [Elisabeth chuckles softly] 380 00:21:48,181 --> 00:21:49,641 Really? Um… 381 00:21:50,350 --> 00:21:51,476 Possibly. 382 00:21:52,311 --> 00:21:56,023 I don't quite know what that means, to be most like my old man. 383 00:21:57,232 --> 00:22:01,611 [Sarah] Elisabeth is the oldest child in his marriage to Anna Murdoch. 384 00:22:03,071 --> 00:22:06,867 She is shrewd and ambitious in her own way. 385 00:22:07,743 --> 00:22:11,955 [McKay] She has her dad's creative streak in a way that her brothers don't. 386 00:22:12,998 --> 00:22:14,916 [Paul] So she's sent to be a researcher 387 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,045 on a pretty crappy little current affairs program in Sydney, 388 00:22:18,128 --> 00:22:20,630 which is kind of the lowest of the low in that position. 389 00:22:21,631 --> 00:22:23,759 She serves a couple of years doing that. 390 00:22:24,593 --> 00:22:29,681 Then she persuades Rupert to lend her some money to buy a couple of TV stations. 391 00:22:35,103 --> 00:22:37,939 [interviewer 3] Who are you most like of your mother and father? 392 00:22:38,023 --> 00:22:39,566 Who am I… Oh boy. I don't know. 393 00:22:39,649 --> 00:22:42,694 Um, I think, hopefully, I'm a mixture of both. 394 00:22:42,778 --> 00:22:43,695 Um… 395 00:22:43,779 --> 00:22:45,822 Hopefully, I've got my mother's looks. 396 00:22:46,448 --> 00:22:47,449 [chuckles] 397 00:22:49,534 --> 00:22:53,538 Lachlan has always been the dutiful son. 398 00:22:53,622 --> 00:22:54,623 [camera clicks] 399 00:22:55,374 --> 00:22:57,376 [McKay] He's kind of the mini Rupert. 400 00:22:58,126 --> 00:23:01,505 Self-consciously emulative of his dad. 401 00:23:02,297 --> 00:23:07,469 [Paddy] Lachlan did an apprenticeship at The Times and The Sun in London. 402 00:23:07,552 --> 00:23:09,054 [Lachlan] I was cleaning out inkwells. 403 00:23:09,137 --> 00:23:13,016 But, having said that, I understand the basics of printing 404 00:23:13,100 --> 00:23:16,103 a lot better than a lot of executives around the place. 405 00:23:17,479 --> 00:23:19,272 And then I went to university. 406 00:23:20,315 --> 00:23:24,528 [Sarah] Lachlan went to Princeton and was pretty low key. 407 00:23:25,112 --> 00:23:28,240 [Paddy] His main passion was actually not academic at all. 408 00:23:29,533 --> 00:23:30,450 It was rock climbing. 409 00:23:31,785 --> 00:23:34,746 He was climbing eight hours a day, and he was good at it. 410 00:23:36,081 --> 00:23:39,709 [Lachlan] I studied philosophy and, specifically, sort of ethics. 411 00:23:40,919 --> 00:23:44,965 But I wasn't a great student. I tended to leave everything to the last minute. 412 00:23:45,465 --> 00:23:47,300 [interviewer 3] The journalist in you, perhaps. 413 00:23:47,384 --> 00:23:50,971 Absolutely. That's right. Pushing deadlines whenever I can. [laughs] 414 00:23:54,558 --> 00:23:56,935 [McKay] James is more of an introvert. 415 00:23:57,018 --> 00:24:00,063 He's very bright, very articulate, 416 00:24:00,147 --> 00:24:03,024 but he was always seen as kind of the problem son. 417 00:24:04,109 --> 00:24:08,071 [David] He had famously done an internship at an Australian newspaper 418 00:24:08,155 --> 00:24:11,199 and been photographed asleep on a couch, 419 00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:15,328 as though he was bored with the news meeting he was sitting in on. 420 00:24:15,412 --> 00:24:19,374 As it turned out, he had been up all night on an assignment and was exhausted. 421 00:24:20,250 --> 00:24:22,461 [McKay] He just had this rebellious streak 422 00:24:22,544 --> 00:24:25,088 that was always manifesting in different ways. 423 00:24:25,172 --> 00:24:29,092 For example, he somewhat infamously dropped out of school for a while 424 00:24:29,176 --> 00:24:31,344 to follow the Grateful Dead on tour. 425 00:24:32,512 --> 00:24:35,515 That was something that was used to sort of mock and ridicule him. 426 00:24:35,599 --> 00:24:38,602 And Lachlan was dutifully kind of taking the measure 427 00:24:38,685 --> 00:24:40,812 of his younger brother's missteps. 428 00:24:43,106 --> 00:24:45,692 [intriguing music playing] 429 00:24:47,277 --> 00:24:51,031 [reporter 6] If there's any such thing as the New York Establishment, here it is. 430 00:24:51,114 --> 00:24:55,202 From the wonderful worlds of politics, commerce, labor, and industry. 431 00:24:55,285 --> 00:24:58,079 Their guest on this occasion, Rupert Murdoch. 432 00:24:58,872 --> 00:25:00,332 [Rupert] Ladies and gentlemen, 433 00:25:00,832 --> 00:25:06,004 I appreciate your invitation to appear before such a distinguished group. 434 00:25:07,547 --> 00:25:09,299 [Sarah] By the 1980s, 435 00:25:09,883 --> 00:25:11,760 Rupert's pretty triumphant. 436 00:25:12,344 --> 00:25:15,680 He's got this wonderfully influential right-wing tabloid 437 00:25:15,764 --> 00:25:17,599 at a time when the city is ripe for it. 438 00:25:17,682 --> 00:25:21,102 [Rupert] The role of a newspaper should be to provoke debate. 439 00:25:21,186 --> 00:25:23,271 No apologies for anything. 440 00:25:24,439 --> 00:25:27,400 [Paddy] The Murdoch empire is sprawling, 441 00:25:27,484 --> 00:25:30,612 with assets in the US, UK, and Australia. 442 00:25:32,155 --> 00:25:34,574 Here it is, folks. Post here. 443 00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:37,702 [Sarah] Rupert wants to have real power, 444 00:25:37,786 --> 00:25:42,457 and he recognizes that that kind of power comes not just through news 445 00:25:42,541 --> 00:25:44,417 but through shaping politics. 446 00:25:45,377 --> 00:25:47,921 [Jim] He's got a giant goal in mind. 447 00:25:48,421 --> 00:25:52,259 And he can only get it with the help of powerful politicians. 448 00:25:54,052 --> 00:25:58,098 [Sarah] So he starts making friends with the biggest names in New York society. 449 00:25:59,266 --> 00:26:03,144 [Claire] Rupert and Donald Trump are in the same ecosystem. 450 00:26:03,228 --> 00:26:05,105 [crowd chattering] 451 00:26:05,188 --> 00:26:07,440 [crowd cheering, whistling] 452 00:26:07,524 --> 00:26:10,235 [Claire] And Roy Cohn is there. 453 00:26:11,069 --> 00:26:14,614 Roy Cohn is the famous advisor of Donald Trump, 454 00:26:14,698 --> 00:26:18,118 who gives him the playbook of how the media works 455 00:26:18,201 --> 00:26:20,495 and how to be the person he is today. 456 00:26:21,413 --> 00:26:24,874 [Roy] I would do anything that is legally permissible 457 00:26:25,375 --> 00:26:27,335 to get my client to win. 458 00:26:28,378 --> 00:26:31,881 [Claire] Cohn tells Rupert about backroom deals 459 00:26:31,965 --> 00:26:33,967 and who's in power and who's not. 460 00:26:34,801 --> 00:26:37,887 [Jim] Cohn gets him in touch with Roger Stone. 461 00:26:37,971 --> 00:26:41,099 They're the New York Republicans behind Reagan. 462 00:26:41,808 --> 00:26:45,270 We will make America great again. 463 00:26:45,353 --> 00:26:47,522 -[crowd cheering] -Thank you very much. 464 00:26:47,606 --> 00:26:49,399 [cheering and whistling] 465 00:26:49,482 --> 00:26:53,528 [Paddy] Rupert is keen to turn the political influence that he has 466 00:26:53,611 --> 00:26:57,616 as a media proprietor into commercial advantage. 467 00:26:59,367 --> 00:27:01,036 [Jim] So he gets behind a politician 468 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,289 in a way that the New York Post hadn't ever really done. 469 00:27:05,540 --> 00:27:08,168 [man 14] Are you prepared to take the constitutional oath? 470 00:27:08,251 --> 00:27:09,544 I am. 471 00:27:09,628 --> 00:27:12,297 [man 14] Place your left hand on the Bible, and raise your right hand… 472 00:27:12,380 --> 00:27:14,007 [Jim] There's a lot Rupert needs, 473 00:27:14,507 --> 00:27:18,136 and he can only get it from a friendly presidential administration. 474 00:27:18,219 --> 00:27:20,221 [tense music playing] 475 00:27:22,140 --> 00:27:26,603 What Rupert wants to do is unheard of. At the time, a brazen idea. 476 00:27:28,229 --> 00:27:31,107 He wants to start a fourth television network. 477 00:27:32,859 --> 00:27:34,694 This was a time when you can't imagine it 478 00:27:34,778 --> 00:27:37,030 because today, there's so much media everywhere, 479 00:27:37,113 --> 00:27:40,617 but at that time, there was only the three networks. 480 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:42,494 [NBC chimes playing] 481 00:27:42,577 --> 00:27:43,787 [announcer 1] This is CBS. 482 00:27:43,870 --> 00:27:45,372 [announcer 2] This is ABC. 483 00:27:45,455 --> 00:27:48,875 History and logic say a fourth broadcast network is a long shot. 484 00:27:49,751 --> 00:27:52,212 But Rupert Murdoch doesn't always play the percentages. 485 00:27:52,712 --> 00:27:55,423 If we pull it off, it'll be a real feather in our cap. 486 00:27:56,675 --> 00:27:59,344 [Jim] Regulations made it hard for someone like Rupert Murdoch 487 00:27:59,427 --> 00:28:02,097 to waltz in and say, "I'm gonna start a network." 488 00:28:02,972 --> 00:28:04,974 For instance, you couldn't have 489 00:28:05,058 --> 00:28:08,061 a television station and a newspaper in the same city. 490 00:28:08,144 --> 00:28:11,272 You couldn't have more than X number of stations in the whole country. 491 00:28:12,482 --> 00:28:15,443 So who's gonna help Rupert pull this thing off? 492 00:28:15,944 --> 00:28:16,945 [camera clicks] 493 00:28:17,779 --> 00:28:21,157 [David] The Reagan administration essentially gave Rupert Murdoch, 494 00:28:21,241 --> 00:28:23,243 let's call it an easement. 495 00:28:24,035 --> 00:28:26,913 [Sarah] He's able to get a waiver 496 00:28:26,996 --> 00:28:31,418 so that he can own both a paper and a television station in the same market. 497 00:28:32,001 --> 00:28:35,422 And then he had to become an American citizen to own a broadcast network. 498 00:28:35,505 --> 00:28:39,509 Media magnate Rupert Murdoch today renounced his Australian citizenship 499 00:28:39,592 --> 00:28:41,010 to become an American. 500 00:28:41,094 --> 00:28:44,055 [David] He goes in a back door in a New York City federal courthouse 501 00:28:44,139 --> 00:28:47,100 and emerges the same day with his citizenship in hand. 502 00:28:47,183 --> 00:28:50,603 That's what happens when you help Ronald Reagan get elected. 503 00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:53,898 [reporter 7] Would you stop and maybe give us three or four questions? 504 00:28:53,982 --> 00:28:55,859 I've got nothing to hide at all. 505 00:28:55,942 --> 00:28:58,611 [Jim] You'll see this time and time again in his career. 506 00:28:58,695 --> 00:29:00,905 It's always about picking the right politician 507 00:29:00,989 --> 00:29:04,659 to get the regulation out of his way for the next conquest. 508 00:29:05,326 --> 00:29:08,079 [Paddy] Rupert is learning how to use power. 509 00:29:08,746 --> 00:29:11,958 And, boom, the Fox network was born. 510 00:29:12,041 --> 00:29:14,043 [Fox network fanfare playing] 511 00:29:17,589 --> 00:29:19,716 -[whooshing] -♪ This is the year, the year for… ♪ 512 00:29:19,799 --> 00:29:20,925 [all] Fox. 513 00:29:21,009 --> 00:29:23,136 -♪ Make no mistake about it ♪ -Fox! 514 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:25,722 [announcer 3] Fox wants to become an alternative 515 00:29:25,805 --> 00:29:28,433 for viewers bored with standard network fare. 516 00:29:29,142 --> 00:29:32,312 The three networks did the same thing. They offered the same hot dog. 517 00:29:32,395 --> 00:29:34,939 Isn't he cute? I call him Scottie. 518 00:29:35,774 --> 00:29:38,109 And these guys were like, "Time for hamburgers." 519 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:40,403 [groans weakly] 520 00:29:40,487 --> 00:29:44,783 [Matthew] Rupert hit it out of the park with Fox network. 521 00:29:44,866 --> 00:29:46,784 [both] Welcome to Men on Films. 522 00:29:46,868 --> 00:29:48,286 Oh, there was nothing like it. 523 00:29:48,369 --> 00:29:50,079 -Ow! -Ha ha! 524 00:29:50,163 --> 00:29:52,957 [Kara] The comedy shows had the snarkiness and attitude. 525 00:29:53,041 --> 00:29:56,669 Why don't you take a picture of me so you can remember me when I was beautiful? 526 00:29:56,753 --> 00:29:58,254 What, are you gonna get worse? 527 00:29:58,755 --> 00:30:04,010 Shows played to the interests that might appeal to a tabloid newspaper viewer. 528 00:30:04,093 --> 00:30:05,887 Shut up and take the picture. 529 00:30:08,014 --> 00:30:09,265 -[camera clicks] -[cheering] 530 00:30:09,349 --> 00:30:12,352 [Kara] He took from the New York Post this populist tendency 531 00:30:12,435 --> 00:30:13,770 and put it on steroids. 532 00:30:13,853 --> 00:30:15,438 Eat my shorts, lame-os. 533 00:30:17,690 --> 00:30:19,442 [Matthew] Fox, under Rupert Murdoch, 534 00:30:19,526 --> 00:30:22,570 created a market for television that did not exist. 535 00:30:22,654 --> 00:30:25,031 [Rupert] Seems to have made us popular with the viewers 536 00:30:25,114 --> 00:30:27,242 and very unpopular with our competitors. 537 00:30:27,325 --> 00:30:29,869 Uh, and that's a pretty good place to be. 538 00:30:30,870 --> 00:30:34,624 -[Jim] Rupert shook things up. -[Paddy] He put the whole empire at risk. 539 00:30:34,707 --> 00:30:37,043 [David] And the public rewarded him for it. 540 00:30:40,088 --> 00:30:43,091 [McKay] With his success in film and TV, 541 00:30:43,174 --> 00:30:47,178 Rupert and Anna moved to Los Angeles to run these companies. 542 00:30:48,471 --> 00:30:53,893 Meanwhile, James was enrolled in an elite prep school in Manhattan, 543 00:30:53,977 --> 00:30:57,897 and so he stayed behind for basically all of his teenage years, 544 00:30:59,357 --> 00:31:03,236 living alone in this penthouse with butler George… 545 00:31:03,319 --> 00:31:05,446 [quirky music playing] 546 00:31:07,448 --> 00:31:09,617 …just kind of doing whatever he wanted. 547 00:31:10,410 --> 00:31:16,165 And he and his best friend were allowed to run wild in this penthouse. 548 00:31:17,083 --> 00:31:21,087 They would have people over and got into a lot of trouble. 549 00:31:22,589 --> 00:31:24,048 But I think, even then, 550 00:31:24,549 --> 00:31:29,178 James knew that he would be forced to work for the family business one day. 551 00:31:29,262 --> 00:31:30,263 [music ends] 552 00:31:31,222 --> 00:31:33,933 I guess you all know that the newspaper business can be 553 00:31:34,017 --> 00:31:35,184 a funny business. 554 00:31:35,268 --> 00:31:38,521 To my next guest, it happens to be a family business. 555 00:31:38,605 --> 00:31:41,399 She's the wife of probably the richest and most controversial, 556 00:31:41,482 --> 00:31:44,193 also maybe the most influential, media mogul in the world. 557 00:31:44,277 --> 00:31:45,945 Please welcome Anna Murdoch. 558 00:31:46,446 --> 00:31:48,448 -[lively music playing] -[applause] 559 00:31:53,953 --> 00:31:55,121 [music ends] 560 00:31:56,497 --> 00:31:58,875 -Nice to see you again. -It's nice to be with you. 561 00:31:58,958 --> 00:32:01,002 Now, listen, the book is Family Business. 562 00:32:01,085 --> 00:32:06,674 Why would Anna Murdoch write a book about an international media mogul? 563 00:32:06,758 --> 00:32:07,842 [Anna laughs] 564 00:32:07,926 --> 00:32:09,969 That's a not very obvious question. 565 00:32:10,053 --> 00:32:12,305 [soft piano music playing] 566 00:32:13,973 --> 00:32:17,435 [Kara] Anna famously wrote a novel called Family Business 567 00:32:18,102 --> 00:32:22,565 that sort of closely mirrored some of the facts of the Murdoch family. 568 00:32:23,441 --> 00:32:26,527 In this novel, the Rupert Murdoch character is actually a woman 569 00:32:27,695 --> 00:32:29,906 who, like Rupert… 570 00:32:32,075 --> 00:32:37,455 is incredibly passionate about newspapers and knows every detail of the process. 571 00:32:39,332 --> 00:32:44,712 And she has three kids that have all got claims to the business. 572 00:32:45,213 --> 00:32:48,508 And it shows how the succession could end in tears. 573 00:32:49,217 --> 00:32:51,636 [Anna] I wanted to show the breakup within the family, 574 00:32:51,719 --> 00:32:58,393 that I think power and money can actually affect sibling relationships. 575 00:32:59,227 --> 00:33:03,106 You have all these little fiefdoms and people arguing among themselves. 576 00:33:04,691 --> 00:33:09,320 [Jim] I think Anna was almost a Cassandra figure in all of this. 577 00:33:10,363 --> 00:33:12,699 [Sarah] She was very prescient in knowing 578 00:33:12,782 --> 00:33:17,328 that this kind of inheritance was gonna become a problem. 579 00:33:18,454 --> 00:33:22,000 [Paddy] And I think she was kind of advising Rupert in this novel 580 00:33:22,083 --> 00:33:23,876 that no good would come of it. 581 00:33:25,461 --> 00:33:29,006 [interviewer 2] How important is it for News Corporation to stay in, 582 00:33:29,090 --> 00:33:30,758 uh, in family hands? 583 00:33:30,842 --> 00:33:31,843 To whom? 584 00:33:32,385 --> 00:33:34,512 "How important to whom?" is the question. 585 00:33:35,930 --> 00:33:38,516 [McKay] The thing about men like Rupert 586 00:33:38,599 --> 00:33:43,396 is that they say that they're doing everything for their family 587 00:33:43,479 --> 00:33:45,565 and they're building this family empire, 588 00:33:45,648 --> 00:33:50,653 but at the end of the day, the empire always takes precedent over the family. 589 00:33:50,737 --> 00:33:52,572 [tense music playing] 590 00:33:52,655 --> 00:33:55,450 [Sarah] He says, "I want one of my children to succeed me." 591 00:33:55,533 --> 00:33:58,411 But he doesn't say how they should succeed him, 592 00:33:58,494 --> 00:34:02,665 what exactly they need to do in order to get that brass ring. 593 00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:10,131 And it sets up exactly the dynamic that Anna didn't want. 594 00:34:12,216 --> 00:34:14,761 This sort of rivalry among the kids. 595 00:34:15,970 --> 00:34:17,805 It's like Hunger Games, Murdoch style. 596 00:34:17,889 --> 00:34:19,932 [music crescendos, ends] 597 00:34:20,016 --> 00:34:23,102 [Elisabeth] From the time that we were very small, 598 00:34:23,186 --> 00:34:25,188 this is one of the other lessons Dad taught me, 599 00:34:25,271 --> 00:34:28,483 it has been very clear that you have to control your own destiny. 600 00:34:28,566 --> 00:34:30,610 [intriguing music playing] 601 00:34:30,693 --> 00:34:33,696 [Paul] Elisabeth is running her own TV stations in America. 602 00:34:33,780 --> 00:34:35,782 She makes some decisions people don't like. 603 00:34:36,365 --> 00:34:39,827 [Sarah] Elisabeth takes a page out of her father's playbook. 604 00:34:39,911 --> 00:34:42,580 [Paul] She sacks people that have been around a long time. 605 00:34:42,663 --> 00:34:44,665 She pisses quite a few people off, 606 00:34:44,749 --> 00:34:47,585 but she makes a success of those TV stations 607 00:34:48,252 --> 00:34:50,797 and sells them at a great profit. 608 00:34:51,881 --> 00:34:57,136 Rupert respects that and really sees her as a capable executive. 609 00:34:58,179 --> 00:35:00,848 [McKay] She's maybe even a worthy protégée. 610 00:35:02,517 --> 00:35:04,102 [Paul] She says she's gonna do an MBA. 611 00:35:05,645 --> 00:35:09,440 Rupert says, "What do you mean, do an MBA? Come and work for me." 612 00:35:11,359 --> 00:35:12,819 "You'll learn much more." 613 00:35:14,695 --> 00:35:16,781 She goes and works with her father in Britain. 614 00:35:19,408 --> 00:35:21,410 [Lachlan] My father's remarkable, what he's achieved. 615 00:35:21,494 --> 00:35:24,288 And I'll work as hard as I can to do as much as I can, 616 00:35:24,372 --> 00:35:27,416 and, uh, I'll take one challenge at a time. 617 00:35:28,876 --> 00:35:30,419 [Paddy] Lachlan moves to Brisbane 618 00:35:30,503 --> 00:35:34,757 and becomes junior manager at Rupert's paper The Courier Mail. 619 00:35:37,677 --> 00:35:41,889 Lachlan is elevated incredibly quickly to positions of power. 620 00:35:41,973 --> 00:35:46,269 He's running the Queensland newspapers at the age of 22 years old. 621 00:35:46,769 --> 00:35:51,065 [Paddy] He's young. He's good looking. He's fabulously rich. 622 00:35:51,566 --> 00:35:54,610 Arguably, he's the most eligible bachelor in the country. 623 00:35:54,694 --> 00:35:57,280 [reporter 8] With him, his heir apparent, son Lachlan. 624 00:35:57,363 --> 00:36:01,242 Lachlan Murdoch has made a faster rise to the top than Tiger Woods. 625 00:36:01,325 --> 00:36:04,162 Has your dad had this conversation with you? "You'll run this company." 626 00:36:04,245 --> 00:36:07,874 No, no. He, uh… My father's focused on, you know, the day to day. 627 00:36:08,833 --> 00:36:10,084 [Paul] By the mid '90s, 628 00:36:10,168 --> 00:36:13,921 he has essentially been handed the whole of the Australian empire. 629 00:36:14,505 --> 00:36:20,720 [Sarah] And though Rupert officially says that any of the kids could succeed him, 630 00:36:21,721 --> 00:36:23,931 it seems like Lachlan is his favorite. 631 00:36:25,933 --> 00:36:28,936 [interviewer 4] Is there an acceptance that your older brother, Lachlan, 632 00:36:29,020 --> 00:36:30,897 will take over eventually? 633 00:36:30,980 --> 00:36:33,107 Um, I don't think that's really… 634 00:36:34,150 --> 00:36:36,402 That's not an issue that I concern myself with. 635 00:36:36,485 --> 00:36:39,405 -Other people concern themselves with it. -That's their business. 636 00:36:39,488 --> 00:36:41,532 [steady drumbeat playing] 637 00:36:41,616 --> 00:36:44,452 [Paul] James decides that he doesn't want to be part of the company, 638 00:36:44,535 --> 00:36:47,079 that he wants to make his own way. 639 00:36:48,331 --> 00:36:50,124 [David] James drops out of Harvard, 640 00:36:50,958 --> 00:36:53,586 and he goes out and he founds Rawkus Records, 641 00:36:54,337 --> 00:36:57,465 seeking to show that he has a sensibility for a new generation. 642 00:36:58,216 --> 00:37:02,845 [Jim] James is trying desperately to prove himself as an outsider. 643 00:37:03,846 --> 00:37:06,390 His father probably didn't even know what hip-hop was. 644 00:37:06,474 --> 00:37:08,976 [Kara] You know, he was like the hip Murdoch. 645 00:37:09,060 --> 00:37:10,102 [camera clicks] 646 00:37:10,186 --> 00:37:12,188 He wore an earring so we knew he was cool. 647 00:37:12,271 --> 00:37:13,731 [wistful music playing] 648 00:37:13,814 --> 00:37:15,274 -[reporter shouts] -[camera clicks] 649 00:37:15,358 --> 00:37:19,487 All these kids know they have to shine and impress their father. 650 00:37:20,112 --> 00:37:23,783 [McKay] But it's clear that he's not just going to give up this empire. 651 00:37:24,283 --> 00:37:28,496 [David] There was more to do. Another chapter to write. 652 00:37:29,205 --> 00:37:32,124 [Rupert] I wanna stay what I'm doing as long as I'm physically fit. 653 00:37:32,208 --> 00:37:34,418 I don't think my children are ready yet. 654 00:37:35,378 --> 00:37:37,088 They may not agree with that, 655 00:37:37,171 --> 00:37:40,424 but I'm certainly planning to make them wait several more years. 656 00:37:40,508 --> 00:37:42,510 [wistful music continues] 657 00:37:44,553 --> 00:37:47,139 [woman 7] Good morning, everyone. I'm Allison Costarene. 658 00:37:47,223 --> 00:37:49,767 [man 15] And I'm Louis Aguirre. Topping our news this morning… 659 00:37:49,850 --> 00:37:51,060 [news continues on TV] 660 00:37:51,143 --> 00:37:54,855 That's great. Congratulations. When do you think they'll get back to you? 661 00:37:55,856 --> 00:37:57,316 [Sarah] By the late '90s, 662 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:01,237 Rupert Murdoch has enjoyed an enormous amount of success in the US. 663 00:38:05,491 --> 00:38:10,037 He has 20th Century Fox. Movie studios, television. 664 00:38:10,121 --> 00:38:14,667 He is a legitimate mogul, and he has the ear of politicians. 665 00:38:14,750 --> 00:38:17,503 -[woman 8] Hello, Mr. Murdoch. -Hello again. How are you? 666 00:38:18,170 --> 00:38:21,299 He is at the top of his game. 667 00:38:22,633 --> 00:38:24,218 [Jim] Rupert is in his late sixties, 668 00:38:24,301 --> 00:38:28,889 and Anna has been waiting for years now for Rupert to retire, 669 00:38:28,973 --> 00:38:30,558 to start their own life together. 670 00:38:31,308 --> 00:38:34,645 Anna had been suggesting that Murdoch step back from the company 671 00:38:34,729 --> 00:38:38,065 and prepare one of their children to succeed him. 672 00:38:39,025 --> 00:38:41,944 He didn't wanna do that at all. He was just getting started. 673 00:38:42,028 --> 00:38:43,571 [horn blares] 674 00:38:44,196 --> 00:38:49,660 He's getting a little antsy and decides to check out his Asia operations. 675 00:38:51,954 --> 00:38:55,541 [Sarah] While he is traveling on a tour through China, 676 00:38:55,624 --> 00:39:00,379 Rupert meets a young woman named Wendi Deng. 677 00:39:00,463 --> 00:39:02,590 [intriguing music playing] 678 00:39:02,673 --> 00:39:05,092 She had a junior role at his company. 679 00:39:06,427 --> 00:39:09,346 [David] Suddenly, Rupert is unavailable. 680 00:39:10,014 --> 00:39:13,809 You know, he says that he was scouting properties or traveling. 681 00:39:14,352 --> 00:39:16,562 Eventually, people on his staff 682 00:39:16,645 --> 00:39:21,359 start noticing that he's showing up with Wendi Deng here and there. 683 00:39:22,193 --> 00:39:25,363 It's clear pretty quickly that a friendship is blooming. 684 00:39:25,863 --> 00:39:29,617 Anna will say outright later that it was an affair. 685 00:39:30,326 --> 00:39:31,952 Rupert will deny it's an affair. 686 00:39:35,498 --> 00:39:39,168 [David] He came back from Asia and set up a board meeting 687 00:39:39,919 --> 00:39:41,962 where he rather abruptly announced 688 00:39:43,172 --> 00:39:47,384 that he was going to divorce his second wife, Anna Torv Murdoch, 689 00:39:47,468 --> 00:39:51,180 and that she was gonna be relinquishing her spot on the company board. 690 00:39:52,473 --> 00:39:56,560 Not long afterwards, he was telling his children he'd met a nice Chinese lady. 691 00:39:57,228 --> 00:40:00,397 [Prudence] He rang me and said, "Oh, by the way, I've met this lady." 692 00:40:00,898 --> 00:40:04,068 I couldn't believe it, actually. I just thought, "You dirty old man." 693 00:40:05,027 --> 00:40:09,824 [Sarah] Both Lachlan and James tried to convince Rupert not to be with Wendi. 694 00:40:09,907 --> 00:40:14,870 They are just aghast that Rupert would betray their mother in this way. 695 00:40:15,371 --> 00:40:17,748 This is a great shock to the rest of the family, 696 00:40:18,999 --> 00:40:21,419 and this was deeply humiliating for Anna. 697 00:40:22,378 --> 00:40:26,215 The wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce in California today. 698 00:40:27,299 --> 00:40:29,343 The divorce papers show that Mrs. Anna Murdoch 699 00:40:29,426 --> 00:40:32,805 doesn't know how much her husband's business interests are worth. 700 00:40:32,888 --> 00:40:34,473 But she means to find out. 701 00:40:35,349 --> 00:40:37,101 [reporter 9] Their divorce exposes the assets 702 00:40:37,184 --> 00:40:39,103 of one of the world's richest men. 703 00:40:39,186 --> 00:40:42,356 [reporter 10] News Corporation's share price dropped 27 cents. 704 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,733 Of concern, the impact the separation could have 705 00:40:44,817 --> 00:40:46,694 on the future ownership of the company. 706 00:40:46,777 --> 00:40:50,531 [reporter 11] The stage may be set for the biggest divorce settlement ever. 707 00:40:50,614 --> 00:40:53,033 -[reporters clamoring] -[cameras clicking] 708 00:40:53,909 --> 00:40:56,620 [Jim] Because the divorce is filed in California, 709 00:40:56,704 --> 00:40:58,330 Anna will be entitled 710 00:40:58,831 --> 00:41:02,585 to half of all the wealth Murdoch built 711 00:41:02,668 --> 00:41:04,920 over the course of their 30 years together. 712 00:41:05,004 --> 00:41:07,923 [intriguing music continues] 713 00:41:08,007 --> 00:41:10,926 But throughout the whole building of the empire 714 00:41:11,010 --> 00:41:12,595 and the raising of the kids, 715 00:41:12,678 --> 00:41:15,431 she has been focused on one thing far more than money. 716 00:41:16,182 --> 00:41:19,685 And that's how this succession battle is gonna play out between the children. 717 00:41:20,644 --> 00:41:24,315 [McKay] She saw the way that Rupert pitted them against each other, 718 00:41:24,398 --> 00:41:28,611 and she didn't want that to become the defining aspect of their lives. 719 00:41:29,862 --> 00:41:32,031 [Sarah] So she decides to use her power 720 00:41:32,114 --> 00:41:37,119 to secure her children's control over the company going forward. 721 00:41:37,995 --> 00:41:41,999 And that's when she negotiates to set up the Murdoch Family Trust. 722 00:41:44,627 --> 00:41:46,587 [David] Instead of going for half of his assets, 723 00:41:46,670 --> 00:41:48,589 which she might have been entitled to, 724 00:41:48,672 --> 00:41:50,633 she took only, I'll use that in quotes, 725 00:41:50,716 --> 00:41:53,677 only $110 million 726 00:41:54,386 --> 00:41:55,679 and created a trust 727 00:41:55,763 --> 00:41:59,308 where all of the children will, in tandem together, 728 00:41:59,808 --> 00:42:01,852 decide the fate of the family business. 729 00:42:04,813 --> 00:42:07,608 [Sarah] The trust gives Rupert four votes, 730 00:42:07,691 --> 00:42:12,446 and his children, Elisabeth, James, Lachlan, and Prudence, 731 00:42:12,529 --> 00:42:16,325 one vote each until Rupert dies, 732 00:42:16,408 --> 00:42:18,035 and then the four of them 733 00:42:18,118 --> 00:42:20,746 will have equal control over the company in the future. 734 00:42:22,581 --> 00:42:26,126 Having equal control among four siblings is not a great idea. 735 00:42:26,919 --> 00:42:27,836 They could deadlock, 736 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:31,590 and that could make it impossible for the company to make decisions. 737 00:42:32,883 --> 00:42:35,844 But I think he just trusts that it's fine, 738 00:42:35,928 --> 00:42:38,514 "I'll deal with it later. I'll kick this can down the road." 739 00:42:41,558 --> 00:42:45,604 [Jim] Until that moment, Rupert Murdoch has full control of his destiny. 740 00:42:46,105 --> 00:42:48,857 He controls the companies. He will choose his successor. 741 00:42:50,025 --> 00:42:55,489 But Rupert is eager, perhaps overeager, to move on with the next chapter. 742 00:42:56,657 --> 00:43:01,328 And in pursuit of a second life and much younger wife, 743 00:43:01,412 --> 00:43:03,497 he gives up control of his empire. 744 00:43:05,207 --> 00:43:09,712 It's a fateful decision that will change the entire dynamic in the Murdoch family. 745 00:43:09,795 --> 00:43:11,213 [Paddy] This is the moment. 746 00:43:11,714 --> 00:43:17,428 [Jim] The beginning of a battle that would define the family for decades. 747 00:43:18,012 --> 00:43:20,931 -[horn blares] -[music ends] 748 00:43:29,148 --> 00:43:31,150 [intriguing instrumental music playing] ld define the family for decades.