James Murdoch Says He Might Rein in Fox News after Rupert Murdoch Passes Away

When Rupert Murdoch dies, his son James and his sisters may seek to reform Fox News to prevent it from spreading false information or unfounded conspiracy theories, according to a lengthy series of interviews with McKay Coppins for The Atlantic.

Fox has already paid $787 million to settle a defamation lawsuit after broadcasting unfounded allegations that the 2020 US presidential election was rigged by Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine manufacturer. A second lawsuit involving Smartmatic is still pending.

When Rupert Murdoch, 93, dies, James and his siblings—Lachlan, Prudence, and Elisabeth—will inherit joint control of News Corp. 

After his death, the elder Murdoch attempted to give Lachlan sole control of the company because Lachlan is most aligned with his father's right-wing politics. However, a lawsuit in Reno probate court was resolved in favor of the other three siblings, who successfully defended Rupert's irrevocable trust, which divides the empire equally among the four children. 

According to Coppins, if James wants to change Fox News to make it less extreme, Lachlan will be outnumbered by James and the other children.

When I asked James and [his wife] Kathryn what changes they would like to see at the family's news outlets, they were usually reserved. But I caught glimpses of their thoughts.

Kathryn once told me over dinner in Washington that she was unsure whether Fox News could be reformed. "It doesn't have a clear purpose in the ecosystem anymore," she said.

James has consistently stated that any proposed reforms would prioritize corporate and editorial governance over political orientation. Fox News, he believed, could still report from a conservative perspective without, for example, allowing unqualified doctors to spread medical misinformation during a pandemic or misrepresenting an oil-company shill as an expert on climate change."

Fortune contacted representatives from James Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for comment. The company provided no response, and a representative for James declined to comment.

According to the Atlantic article, James and Rupert have barely spoken in years. James split from his father and resigned from the company in 2020, frustrated with Fox and Sky Australia's promotion of climate change denial. "If lying to your audience is how you juice ratings," James told The Atlantic, "a good culture wouldn't do that."