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Murdoch 'boys' behind move to ditch Fox News boss Ailes

Friday, 22 Jul 2016 12:12:30 | Peter Lloyd

Lachlan Murdoch (L), Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch (R) attend The Television Academy's 23rd Hall Of Fame Induction Gala at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on March 11, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California. (AFP: Jason Kempin)

It's been a year since James and Lachlan Murdoch became joint operators of News Corporation, answering only to their father Rupert.

Now it appears that they answer to no one, after the dramatic corporate execution of Roger Ailes, the Fox News rainmaker who held both sons in openly low regard.

Mr Ailes resigned today under the cloud of a sexual harassment lawsuit and has been replaced by Rupert Murdoch, the head of Fox's parent company 21st Century Fox.

"The boys moved against him [Mr Ailes]," Michael Wolff - author of the 2008 Rupert Murdoch biography, "The Man Who Owns the News" - told The World Today.

Action was swift. Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson levelled her charges of sexual harassment against Mr Ailes two weeks ago, and more allegations followed.

Lawyers were hired to investigate, but there was an unprecedented number of leaks from News Corp against Mr Ailes that suggested he would soon be ousted.

"[It was] Ten years of them trying to take his power, and ten years of him saying terrible things about them," Wolff explains.

'The end of Rupert Murdoch'

Moreover, says Wolff, this is a sure sign of the dimming power of the Sun King.

"It's not only the end of Roger Ailes but, in very meaningful ways, it is the end of Rupert Murdoch."

The corporate beheading was not done in the style of Rupert Murdoch, known more for circling the wagons than throwing senior staff facing sexual harassment allegations under a bus.

But style isn't what Wolff sees in evidence here. It's substantive media power in generational transition.

It is an indication that in real ways, at 84, Rupert Murdoch is stepping aside.

On the senior Murdoch's appointment as Ailes successor, Wolff is beyond blunt.

"Bullshit. Rupert doesn't know anything about television," he scoffs.

"That's the Hail Mary pass, the 'oh my god what are we going to do now?'"

Audio: Murdoch observer says Ailes' firing shows shift in leadership of family business (The World Today)

Silence from the patriarch is seen as consent, or perhaps resignation, to the firing of an executive who probably, by Wolff's estimate, adds more than $600 million a year to the bottom line.

But the signs of retirement have been there for a while if you look at Rupert's retreat from the social media sphere. On Twitter, Murdoch's last post was in March.

Rupert in retirement might seem even more improbable than an 84-year-old consummating a fourth marriage, and 2016 may be the year remembered for both astonishing events.

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