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Speaker 1: Well in the world of media. Major piece of news

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Speaker 1: coming out this morning. Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as

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Speaker 1: chairman of the boards of Fox and News Corp. Following

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Speaker 1: a nearly seven decade career, and will become chairman emeritus

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Speaker 1: of each company. His son, Lachlan Murdoch will become sole

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Speaker 1: chairman of News Corp and continue as executive chair and

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Speaker 1: chief executive officer of Fox the company. So succession, big, big,

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Speaker 1: big time succession. In the real world, you need perspective

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Speaker 1: on a story like this. There's only one person to

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Speaker 1: go to in my opinion, and that is Brian Stelter.

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Speaker 1: He is a Walter Schorenstein Fellow at Harvard University. Most

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Speaker 1: of our audience knows him as a former chief media

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Speaker 1: correspondent at CNN. I also know him as a former

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Speaker 1: media reporter at The New York Times. So he is

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Speaker 1: the voice to go to. Brian. Rupert Murdoch defines media mogul,

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Speaker 1: So a pretty big move here today.

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Speaker 2: It is, and in some ways it is surprising because

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Speaker 2: Ruper Murdoch always said that he would never retire. That's

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Speaker 2: what son Lachlin said about a decade ago as well.

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Speaker 2: Lachlan was clearly being groomed to be the success sir

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Speaker 2: that's been in place for a few years. Today just

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Speaker 2: affirms and confirms that Lachlan is the chosen son. But

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Speaker 2: all along Lachlan had to share power with his father,

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Speaker 2: and the idea was that Rupert would never retire. Well,

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Speaker 2: today is the closest thing to a retirement that we're

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Speaker 2: ever going to see from Rupert. His allies are calling

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Speaker 2: it more of a semi retirement. He is saying he'll

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Speaker 2: be very involved, watching, reading, responding and giving feedback. But

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Speaker 2: this is clearly a turning point moment for both News

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Speaker 2: Corporation and Fox Corporation to have Rupert moving off the

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Speaker 2: board as a chairman, moving into an emeris emeritus role.

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Speaker 2: There is obviously no coming, no turning back from this.

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Speaker 2: And now this cements Lachlan as the leader of both companies,

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Speaker 2: for better or worse. And I think there's a grand

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Speaker 2: debate to be had about Lachlan's leadership, the pros and

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Speaker 2: cons and what it means for shareholders.

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Speaker 3: You know, there are a lot of businesses in which

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Speaker 3: it doesn't really matter who's the CEO or the chairman.

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Speaker 3: If you've got somebody holding a big stake in the company.

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Speaker 3: He's still the boss or she's still the boss. Is

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Speaker 3: that the case here? Does Rupert Murdoch have to be

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Speaker 3: chairman and CEO to run the business or is he

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Speaker 3: still in charge of the family.

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Speaker 2: He's still in charge of the family, and he still

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Speaker 2: controls the trust. And that is the part of this

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Speaker 2: that is very much like HBO's succession. The storyline on

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Speaker 2: succession is very much how it works in the Murdoch family.

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Speaker 2: There are a bunch of votes of the trust. The

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Speaker 2: trust controls both Fox and News Corps, and in the

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Speaker 2: event of Ruper Murdoch's death, there will be a battle

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Speaker 2: for control of both companies. Within the Murdoch family. People

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Speaker 2: who may know that the outlines of this for adult children,

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Speaker 2: two of whom Ruper James and Lachlan have been worrying,

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Speaker 2: have been battling for years. Also to women, Elizabeth and Prudence.

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Speaker 2: In the event of Rupert's death, they each get one

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Speaker 2: vote and so there is no tiebreaker. There will be

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Speaker 2: some sort of reorganization of the companies in the event

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Speaker 2: of Rupert's death. But it's important to note in the

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Speaker 2: memo this morning he says he is in robust health,

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Speaker 2: and he's been around the Fox studio a lot in

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Speaker 2: Los Angeles this week, according to my sources. So I

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Speaker 2: think what we're seeing today is a sort of confirmation

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Speaker 2: that Lachlin is the chosen one of the father. But

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Speaker 2: that does not mean that there could not be any

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Speaker 2: number of changes in the years to come.

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Speaker 1: Brian, is there any reason to believe that with this

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Speaker 1: news today that there could be any change in editorial

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Speaker 1: view strategy at Fox Right.

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Speaker 2: I think that's one of the most interesting questions. And

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Speaker 2: the initial answer is no. Because Lochlan Murdoch is as

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Speaker 2: conservative and in some ways more conservative than his father.

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Speaker 2: They have many of the same political views. They both

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Speaker 2: have some distaste for Donald Trump. Rupert Murdoch much more

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Speaker 2: critical of Trump than Lachlan has been, at least as

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Speaker 2: far as we know, but both men, although critical of Trump,

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Speaker 2: are definitely and defiantly conservative. I don't think we're going

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Speaker 2: to see the brands change direction in a dramatic way,

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Speaker 2: but we might see And this is the question mark,

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Speaker 2: and what I'm really curious about is what will Lachlan

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Speaker 2: Murdoch may be more free, not entirely freed of his father,

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Speaker 2: but perhaps more free than he has been. Does he

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Speaker 2: have plans he liked to put in place, Does he

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Speaker 2: have business ventures or strategic shifts that he's not been

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Speaker 2: able to pull off because of his dad? You know,

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Speaker 2: we know the general direction is the same, right towards streaming,

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Speaker 2: toward getting Google and Facebook to pay for news corps properties.

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Speaker 2: You know, all of that will continue, but you know

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Speaker 2: I will I guess are we going to see Lachlan

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Speaker 2: emerge from his dad's shadow?

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Speaker 1: Now?

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Speaker 2: I think is an open question.

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Speaker 1: How do you think when we look back on this, Brian,

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Speaker 1: I know you've got so much history and experience with

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Speaker 1: the Murdoch family in the news corporation. How do you

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Speaker 1: think Rippert goes down in history? Certainly when I think

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Speaker 1: about you know, the media moguls, some to Redstone, Ted Turner,

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Speaker 1: you know a couple of others. John Malone, he's right

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Speaker 1: there at the top of the mountain.

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Speaker 2: Yes. In moving us from a broadcast to a cable

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Speaker 2: and then a digital world. Absolutely, there are some accomplishments.

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Speaker 2: You have to give credit for the creation of the

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Speaker 2: Fox broadcast network. You know, we wouldn't have the Simpsons.

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Speaker 2: You know, in Family Guy, there's there's a lot that

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Speaker 2: is so much that has Ruper Murdock's fingerprints. Of course,

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Speaker 2: that's all all right, Fox Bryan.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he's created an entire political movement. Doesn't it

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Speaker 3: feel like that?

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Speaker 2: It does. We would not have a hat of Donald

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Speaker 2: Trump presidency without Ruper Murdoch and Fox News. The polarization

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Speaker 2: of Fox News, but also the diversity of voices. You know,

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Speaker 2: we could argue it any number of directions, but the

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Speaker 2: impact is very clear and spread out all around the world,

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Speaker 2: including in Australia, in the UK and other markets. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's a satellite network, a lot of that is a

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Speaker 2: part of Ruper Murdock's legacy. Now, I would say on

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Speaker 2: the business front, he had impeccable timing selling most of

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Speaker 2: Fox to Disney about five years ago, you know, providing

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Speaker 2: more firepower for Disney and the streaming wars, but also

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Speaker 2: getting out of some declining businesses. If you look at

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Speaker 2: the stock for Fox Corporation in the five years since

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Speaker 2: it was spun out, you know, it's down twenty three

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Speaker 2: twenty four percent over five years. News Corporation has fared

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Speaker 2: somewhat better, But if you're an investor in these companies,

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Speaker 2: you are not altogether pleased. By Ruper Murdock's performance in

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Speaker 2: recent years as these companies have faced headwinds of the

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Speaker 2: Apples and the Disney's and the Googles, these much bigger

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Speaker 2: giants than now control the media and tech landscape.

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Speaker 1: And Brian that kind of calls into question again. A

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Speaker 1: lot of folks say, maybe Rupert was the smartest person

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Speaker 1: in the room selling to Bob Biger when he did.

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Speaker 1: What does Bob Biger and Disney do now? Because they've said,

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Speaker 1: unlike Rupert, we're staying We're going to try to evolve

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Speaker 1: and compete in this new media world. How do you

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Speaker 1: think that plays out for Bob Biger?

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Speaker 2: Right? And to me, I think about it as a consumer.

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Speaker 2: How attached am I to Disney as a consumer? How

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Speaker 2: invested am I? How much do I have to spend

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Speaker 2: to go to Disney World, Disneyland? How much do I

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Speaker 2: have to pay for Disney Plus? And I think Disney

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Speaker 2: has its hooks in consumers better than any of these

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Speaker 2: other media companies. That's why when I look at this landscape,

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Speaker 2: it's Disney and of course Netflix that would be the

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Speaker 2: ones that I would be wanting to bet on. That said,

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Speaker 2: the challenges are enormous he is saddled by assets like

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Speaker 2: the ABC television network that are no longer deemed desirable,

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Speaker 2: and how going to navigate out of that? You know,

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Speaker 2: to me, it's a very treacherous one two years ahead.

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Speaker 2: To me, in ten years, I'd still rather be Disney

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Speaker 2: because they're still going to have their hooks in so

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Speaker 2: many families that have to go meet Mickey Mouse. But

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Speaker 2: in that short term, that short term is so so murky.

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Speaker 1: Is there a future? What is the future for cable news?

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Speaker 2: Do you think for cable news? Well, Fox News is

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Speaker 2: the strongest of the pack. All of these companies are

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Speaker 2: facing secular challenges. We know about the headwinds, but you know,

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Speaker 2: Fox News, for all of its faults, and I believe

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Speaker 2: there are many, it has a captive and loyal audience,

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Speaker 2: almost like anything else in television or in media, and

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Speaker 2: I do see some challenges around the edges. Tucker Carlson's

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Speaker 2: firing did calls a ratings drop, but most of those

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Speaker 2: viewers actually come back to Fox News. So if you

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Speaker 2: were betting on a cable channel out there, you'd probably

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Speaker 2: be betting on Fox News again, for better or worse.

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Speaker 2: Right now, they're getting ready for their next GOP debate.

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Speaker 2: The Republican Party gave Fox the first two debates, not Newsmax,

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Speaker 2: not Rumbled, not some far right internet stream. Republican Party

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Speaker 2: still went back to Fox, so that alliance is still

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Speaker 2: very real and very strong and frankly, very profitable for

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Speaker 2: Lachlin and Rupert.

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Speaker 1: Brian, thanks so much for joining us. Really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: giving us a few minutes of your time. Brian Stelter.

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Speaker 1: He's a Walter Schorenstein Fellow at Harvard University and a

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Speaker 1: former chief media correspondent at CNN. Also a former media

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Speaker 1: reporter with The New York Times, so it certainly has

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Speaker 1: the chops to give us his perspective