All language subtitles for Dynasty.The.Murdochs.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH-HI

[cheering and applause]

[man 1] Welcome, one and all,
to The Late Show.

I'm your host, Stephen Colbert.

[audience cheering]

About two hours ago,

Fox News settled their defamation suit
with Dominion Voting Systems.

Damn it!

I wanted to see Rupert Murdoch

put his hand on the Bible
and burst into flames.

[audience laughing]

[dramatic music playing]

- [horns beeping]
- [man shouting]

[Jim Rutenberg]
2023 was one of the worst years

in Rupert's entire career.

[shouts] 'Cause Fox Lie!

[Jim] Fox News settled a lawsuit
with the Dominion voting machine company

for almost a billion dollars.

Fox was already strapped for cash.

Tucker Carlson can only afford
one facial expression.

[man 2] Dominion had accused Fox News
of knowingly pushing

false conspiracy theories

about what former President Trump
had claimed were rigged voting machines.

So Fox knew this was all BS, and yet they
were hyping it to their viewers anyway.

[chanting] Detox from Fox.

[Jim] During the 2020 presidential race,

Fox hosts gave airtime

to conspiracy theories
about a stolen election.

These fraudulent ballots
will just be counted again.

Fox News was trying to sell their bullshit
that Trump really won the election.

The machine ran an algorithm
that shaved votes from Trump

and awarded them to Biden.

[man 3] The judge ruled that
everything Fox aired about Dominion

and its voting machines
in the 2020 election was false.

[camera clicking]

[Jonathan Mahler] Their decision
to buy into the big lie

created a credibility problem
for the company and for shareholders.

So there are tensions
within the Murdoch family.

Liz, James, and Prue are concerned

about the direction
of the company under Lachlan,

because this Dominion Voting settlement
happened under his leadership.

At Fox News, there has always been
a push to the right.

But now this is an existential matter
for the family.

[Jonathan] An enormous amount is at stake.

I mean, this is the most powerful
media empire in the world.

And it begins to provoke a conversation
among the children

about, well, what is gonna happen
when Rupert dies?

Where do we go from here?
What will happen with the companies?

So James is passing through London,

and he reaches out to Liz and Prue
to meet with them.

It's worth acknowledging
Lachlan is not invited.

[Jonathan] James reserves a private room
inside the Claridge Hotel in London.

And that meeting becomes a source
of a lot of debate… [scoffs]

…and a lot of controversy.

[Jim] Because as this is all unspooling,

there's this article
in the Financial Times

that really sets Lachlan off.

There's a quote
from a source close to James

that says, basically,
when Rupert dies, Lachlan's out.

[Jonathan] Of course,
that fuels Lachlan's paranoia.

- [man 4] Who is going to succeed?
- [man 5] Waiting in the wings…

[Jim] The chatter that James
will effect a coup with his sisters

was, in Lachlan's ears, deafening.

The clear indication is,

if James were to somehow effect a coup,

he would change the direction of Fox
and would take it to the left.

[Jonathan] And that's all in the air
as this meeting happens.

[pulsing music playing]

[Jim] So, at Claridge's,

Liz, James, and Prue are definitely
venting about Lachlan

but all say that they didn't
talk about getting rid of him.

The most memorable thing about it
is Liz has a beer.

[bottle opens, fizzes]

But afterward, Prue gets
an alarming text from Lachlan

asking her to call him.

Prue is beside herself.

Maybe he's found out about their meeting.
She doesn't know what to say.

And she writes to Liz,

"Lachlan trying to reach me!"

And she does
a kind of exploding-head emoji.

[music continues]

[Jonathan] But, as it turns out,
he was reaching out to tell her

about some changes
at one of the company's boards.

[Jim] So it was actually pretty innocuous,

but still, Lachlan's very unhappy.

He's constantly reminding
or pointing out to his dad,

"Look, look, look.
They're planning a coup."

Rupert spent his entire lifetime
building Fox News

and the rest of the conservative empire,

so he sees it as his legacy.

[Richard Cooke]
And there is only one of his children

that Rupert trusts
with the Murdoch media empire

operating in the interests
of conservative politics.

He knows Lachlan will act
as an instrument of his will,

even posthumously.

[Jim] So Rupert and Lachlan decide,
"We've got to figure this out."

And thus begins an aggressive plot

to take control of the empire
once and for all.

[dramatic music playing]

[music softens]

[music ends]

- [children chattering]
- [string music playing]

[Paul Barry] Rupert portrays himself
as someone who came from nothing,

who built his empire out of nothing.

But he grew up in a house
that had 30 rooms.

It had a tower,

four acres of gardens,

a ballroom. They had ten servants.

So Rupert wasn't just born
with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He had a whole set of gold cutlery.

[Paddy Manning] His father, Keith,

was the most powerful newspaper man
in Australia,

with one of the top-selling tabloids
in Melbourne.

And Rupert grew up

wanting to emulate his father.

The way that his father made money was
through a populist messaging apparatus.

[Paul] He pioneers
modern tabloid journalism in Australia.

Snappy headlines, competitions,

sport, and crime.

[Paddy] He was a kingmaker in his day.

He was able to seat
and unseat prime ministers.

[Paul] Rupert's born in 1931.

He's the second child.

The first is a girl.
Two more girls come after.

Rupert, as the boy, was naturally the one
that his father looked to to succeed him.

But he was not great at sports.

He was not particularly focused in school.

His headmaster said
he was the most unpleasant,

most difficult pupil he'd ever taught.

He was rebellious, arrogant,
didn't like authority.

So he's a guy
who's got a lot of privilege about him,

and he behaves like that.

[church bell tolls]

[man 1] Keith had sent him to Oxford
to rub shoulders with future influencers

and make something of himself.

And instead, Rupert was driving fast,

gambling, drinking, smoking,
having a great time.

[curious music playing]

[David] So Keith Murdoch was not convinced
that Rupert was a good representation

of what the Murdoch family name
should embody.

[bells chime]

[Rupert] I was sleeping in
one Sunday morning in my flat at Oxford

when my tutor came in and woke me up
and told me that my father had died.

Any memory I really have of it
is one of, um, complete shock.

[David] Rupert's father died
rather abruptly.

In his will, Keith Murdoch said
that he hoped for his only son,

Keith Rupert Murdoch,

to have a useful, altruistic,
and full life

in newspapering and broadcasting,

which is quite a charge.

I was burdened with this anxiety

for Rupert.

He was so very young,

and I did long to be able to help Rupert

to prove worthy of his father.

[Walter] From Elisabeth's perspective,
she's got this 21-year-old son

who's totally unproven
when it comes to being a journalist,

let alone running a media empire.

And so after the funeral, Keith Murdoch's
former colleagues take control.

[Paddy] The executors of his estate
talked Dame Elisabeth into selling

the bulk of the media business
that Keith had built up.

Rupert is outraged.

He believes that the people
that used to work for his father

have now betrayed him,

and his inheritance has been stolen
out from under him.

[David] Rupert carried this with him
for his entire life.

Not a chip, but a boulder on his shoulder.

[Paddy] And he spends
the next 45 years getting even.

[reporter 1] Mr. Murdoch, sir.

[cameras clicking]

[Paul] People always ask,
"What drives Rupert?"

Everyone thinks that it's money,
but it's really the game.

[Paddy] By the mid '90s,
Rupert was on a winning streak.

The Murdoch empire is sprawling.

It's in the US, UK, and Australia.

[Sarah] He has 20th Century Fox,
movie studios, television.

[woman 1] His communications empire

includes everything
from satellite companies

to some of the biggest newspapers
in the world.

Forbes magazine estimates his fortune
to be worth $4 billion.

[McKay Coppins] Rupert had already
acquired a villainous reputation

for his down-market tabloids
and conservative politics.

[Rupert] Our company is a reflection
of my thinking,

my character, and my values.

[Sarah] His guiding light was poking
whoever he viewed as the Establishment.

When it's going well, push it.

[Jim] 1996 is the most important year
in Rupert Murdoch's career.

And it's important for two words.

Fox News.

As you know, Fox has had
a phenomenal growth in the last few years,

and now we have to move, uh, to making
ourselves the best in news programming.

Rupert saw a real business opportunity.

Good morning, and welcome to MSNBC.

[Sarah] He saw all of the news operations

fighting for the same
left-of-center audience,

and there's no real conservative voice
in the news.

[reporter 2] Murdoch is vowing to offer
an alternative

to what he claims
is a liberal bias in the media.

Recognizing an audience
that isn't being catered to

and speaking to them directly,

this is the model
for the Murdoch media empire.

[Sarah] So Rupert launched Fox News.

We've been very lucky in being able
to obtain the services of Mr. Roger Ailes.

I'd like to thank Mr. Murdoch for
the kind words. Thank you all for coming…

[Sarah] Like Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes
was deep into conservative politics.

We'd like to, uh, restore objectivity
where we find it lacking,

and, uh, we just expect
to do fine, balanced journalism.

Roger Ailes is
one of the smartest people I've met.

Smartest, canny.

It's like talking to Satan.
Like, Satan's smart.

[Matthew Belloni] It depends who you are,
how you describe the relationship

between Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.

They are either supervillains
that came together to dominate the world,

or they are mutual geniuses
who recognize market value.

Considering his choice of Ailes,

and that his conservative fingerprints
are smudged all over his newspapers,

many analysts wonder
if he will use the TV news channel

to spread his gospel.

[man 2] How did it happen?

How did television news
become so predictable,

and in some cases, so boring?

Well, we're going to try to be different.

[theme music playing]

[man 3] We launched in the fall of 1996.

[reporter 3] The debut
of the Fox News Channel.

[man 3] We were sort of outcasts,
like pirates,

and being part of that sort of outsider,
anti-establishment crusade was fun.

Chandra Levy was killed
by an acquaintance…

But one of my fellow editors at CNN said,

"Be careful. Ailes does not have
the best reputation."

He has this pugnacious sort of style,

so he was known as a ruthless character.

[woman 2] The Fox News Channel
was Roger's fiefdom.

He had a lot of latitude
and unilateral control.

But he followed the playbook
of the other Murdoch media properties.

[Matthew] It was taking the ethos
of the New York Post

and bringing it
to a vibrant television screen.

Whether it was an American flag

or splashy graphics,
there's something to look at.

[David Shuster] "Ding," Fox News alert.

"Ding." [laughs] Over and over and over.

They believed that you had to grab
the audience, the viewer, visually first.

[David Shuster] Fox hired
people who were good-looking.

[Sarah] More makeup, more hairspray,
shorter skirts, and higher heels.

Roger Ailes came up with the idea
of a translucent desk

because he wanted the audience to be able
to see the legs of his female anchors.

[anchor] …got rid of valedictorians.

Ailes wanted an image
that you would stop on.

And… you know, I don't think he was wrong.

[applause and cheering]

[Richard] They realized that
what the American public wanted,

almost more than anything else,

was an attractive young woman
with the opinions of an old man.

[Sarah] Just as Ailes and Rupert Murdoch
are launching Fox,

a story on the national stage
breaks through.

[theme music playing]

- [reporter 4] The president's on trial.
- The impeachment of President Clinton.

Bill Clinton strung us all along.

[Sarah] It's Bill Clinton's alleged affair
with Monica Lewinsky,

and it's catnip for Fox News's viewers.

[reporter 5] CBS News has uncovered
new pictures…

[Sarah] Everybody was covering that story,

but no one was covering it
with the same kind of glee that Fox was.

This is a very good day
for a number of lawyers

involved in
the Monica Lewinsky investigation.

We're hitting a sitting president.
Hitting him hard.

He definitely lied.

[David Shuster] We were encouraged
to play by different rules.

To go all in
on a scandalous tabloid kind of story…

Monica Lewinsky's chance…

[David] …without the kind
of careful journalistic balance

that had preceded years before.

The Lewinsky case challenges all of us.

You and I, the American people,
will have to render the final verdict.

[Alisyn] That's when Fox News Channel
found its voice,

and the ratings spiked.

Tonight, it's worth pointing out
that the Fox News Channel has succeeded

against all odds.

It's hard to imagine that they could have
launched with as much of a bang

if they didn't have that story
to chew on every single night.

Fox News established that you can make
a ton of money and get a huge audience

not by doing straight news, but by
giving people what they want.

[woman 3] For all you kids at home,
Santa just is white.

You know, I mean,
Jesus was a white man too.

[Sarah] They took this populist tendency
and put it on steroids.

Mexico has announced it will provide
up to 200,000 survival kits

to those planning to illegally
cross the border into the US.

[Richard] Rupert said it was like
picking money up off the street.

He was shameless about it, proud of it,

and with good reason.

It made him
phenomenally wealthy and powerful.

[McKay] Rupert made very clear early on

that he wanted
this huge, multinational conglomerate,

publicly traded,
wildly successful media company

to be a family business.

[Lachlan] We talked as a family together
about business.

And, of course,
that today is still the case.

So I talk with my sister
and my brother and my dad about business

on… on… on almost a daily basis.

[Elisabeth] We were given
wonderful opportunities.

We've also been
very much aware of the fact

that there's pretty serious expectation
that you better prove what you're doing.

As they talk about it within the family,
he wasn't raising children.

He was raising possible successors.

[Sarah] And it created this rivalry
among the kids.

It's like he's throwing blood into
the water and letting them fight it out.

[Elisabeth] I think my drive
comes from the same place

that my dad's does.

There's obviously a sense
of competitive drive,

and there's a sense of real ambition.

[enigmatic music playing]

[David Folkenflik] In the late 1990s,

Elisabeth goes to work
for her father at Sky,

the major British
satellite TV conglomerate.

Rupert really installed
very tough people there.

[McKay] It was, like, macho
and nasty and belligerent.

[Claire] What I heard
from people who worked with Liz

is that she's like her dad.

She's a very ideas-oriented person.

Elisabeth has a creative eye that
neither of her brothers really possess.

[Claire] If we're talking about what
her big contribution to the company is,

it's that she spotted,
I think it was called Pop Idol in the UK,

and said to Dad,
"I think that we need this show."

[man 4] America has made their decision.

[Claire] And they renamed it
American Idol.

[man 4] Kelly Clarkson.

[audience cheering]

[Claire] It was transformative for Fox.

[Paul] People, they're impressed by her.

She has shown that she can build
and run TV stations.

[Claire] I think she thought that,
one day, she might be the CEO at Sky.

I think Dad thought otherwise.

Perhaps because she was a woman,
it wasn't enough.

[David] He treats her as disrespectfully
and in as sexist a manner

as you could expect
that a person of his generation might do.

[Paul] She's a young mother with two kids.

[Sarah] And Rupert makes these sexist,
undermining comments

about her having children

and how she needs to figure out
what she wants to do with her life.

She feels she's not being given a chance.

And so she faxes
a resignation letter to her father.

[Sarah] It's a classic Murdoch move.

And her father respects that.

[Elisabeth] I think he was surprised
that I decided to leave.

But I think also great pride.
Um, I think he got it.

[purposeful music playing]

[Sarah] She starts her own
production company called Shine.

[Rupert] She's not given up her ambitions,
by any means,

to play a part in the company.

But we'll have to see how things
settle down in her own career.

[McKay] There were always rumors
in the company

that Liz was the dark horse candidate
to become Rupert's successor.

And she was playing the long game.

That by building
her own successful company

outside of the Murdoch umbrella,

that one day she would come back
and "kill her brothers."

[cameras clicking]

Morning, everybody.

[woman 4] 25-year-old Lachlan Murdoch

is taking over control
of his father's Australian operations.

[Paul] By the mid to late '90s,

Lachlan is in charge
of the whole of the Australian empire.

He's a bit of a rock star,
but he's not a journalist.

He's not a businessman.
He's not got an MBA.

[woman 5] There's a lot of focus on
who will be Rupert Murdoch's successor.

Do you think that could be you
of the four children?

Oh, I… I can't think that far ahead.

I'll do the best job I can,
and we'll see what happens.

I'm very pleased about it,
but it'll be a test.

[Paul] He's not
incredibly highly regarded,

but he's got good people around him.

And those good people know that
if they want to get into the organization,

they need to help Lachlan,
because Rupert is looking.

[reporter 6] They're Australia's
glamorous, golden couple.

Lachlan Murdoch, heir to a media fortune,

and Sarah, a successful model,
TV presenter,

and all-round great Aussie girl.

[quirky music playing]

[reporter 7] Fit enough
to marry a supermodel,

Lachlan Murdoch started his wedding day
with a morning run.

- Mr. Murdoch, looking forward to the day?
- Absolutely.

[woman 6] The Murdoch clan has gathered
at the family's property near Yass

for what's been labeled
the wedding of the year.

[Paddy] He's married the supermodel
Sarah O'Hare,

and he started a family.

He's fabulously rich.

They are like royalty.

[Matthew] He loves it there.
He loves the lifestyle.

He feels like he is at home.

[Paddy] But if he's to be the successor,
it's clear that Lachlan has to come

where the center of gravity is
for News Corporation,

and that's in America.

[reporter 8] Goodbye,
Network 10 Australia,

and hello, New York.

[Paddy] Lachlan and his family
move to New York,

and he becomes an executive
at News Corporation.

[dynamic music playing]

He was clearly the favorite.

♪ Twenty-five cents
for the New York Post ♪

[McKay] He was learning
the ways of the New York Post

and the newspaper business,

which was what Rupert cared about most,

and he was the oldest son.

[Paul] Lachlan from the very beginning,
really, is the one who's being groomed,

and the one
who's being given the easiest run.

And Rupert is describing Lachlan
as the "first among equals."

That doesn't go down too well with James.

[McKay] James was running
an independent hip-hop label

called Rawkus Records with his friends.

They actually discovered some of
the emerging hip-hop talent in Brooklyn.

Mos Def.

♪ I'm Slim Shady… ♪

[McKay] They worked with Eminem
at one point.

[curious music playing]

I think James wanted to think of himself

as someone who was going
to chart his own course,

and he resisted Rupert's efforts
to put him to work in the family business.

But there was
this gravitational pull from Rupert

to get James back into his orbit.

[suspenseful music playing]

Rupert decided to buy Rawkus Records.

I don't think Rupert particularly cared
for the emerging hip-hop scene,

but buying the label

was an easy way
for him to force his son's hand

and get him into the company.

Also, James had grown up

believing that the Murdoch media empire
was the center of the universe.

So when his dad said,
"I want you to come work for me, son,

I'm gonna trust you with this,"
it meant a lot.

[indistinct chattering]

[Paul] Rupert manages to put him in a suit
and get his hair cut,

and bring him into line.

[David] James goes over
to work for Star TV in Asia.

[McKay] James is 27 years old
at this point.

He's had really
no meaningful corporate experience.

People at News Corp thought
it was a suicide mission.

There was no reason to believe

that a green 27-year-old
could go to Hong Kong

and turn around a company

that had lost, I think,
in recent years, $100 million.

But James, I think,
was excited by the challenge,

excited that his dad seemed to trust him,
and earnestly went out there

believing that he could
do big things there.

[Jim] James had to show
that he could play his father's game.

He needed to prove it to his father
but also to the world.

That meant compromising on some things.

[reporter 9] There were political protests
on the issue of human rights.

[Sarah] James is very willing
to look the other way

when it comes
to human rights abuses in China.

[reporter 10] Murdoch pulled out
of publishing the memoirs of Chris Patten,

the former governor of Hong Kong
and critic of the Chinese government.

[tense music playing]

[Richard] They made him eat shit.

They made him give speeches

about how you had to respect
other countries' ways of doing things,

and democracy wasn't always the answer.

[James] The press doesn't need
to talk down to people.

The press doesn't need to educate.
The press is just a tool.

[Sarah] He wants to own the identity
of being a Murdoch

and being a kind of ruthless businessman.

[McKay] His early assignments,

he was really eager
to prove himself to his dad

and to be seen as a good soldier.

[fireworks whistling]

[Richard] So James spearheaded
these efforts.

And for a while,
it looks like it will work.

But China is a graveyard
for a lot of Western businesses.

The Chinese Communist Party,
they just played him along.

It all wound up not doing anything for him

other than wasting time and money.

He is unsuccessful in opening up China
to the degree that they had hoped.

[Paul] But James always had
a pretty high opinion of himself

and I think he was
incredibly competitive with Lachlan,

and so I don't think he ever gave up.

James, welcome to Walk the Talk.

Thank you so much. It's great to be here.

[McKay] He pivots the growth strategy
to India,

where he develops
a big new slate of programming,

including an Indian version
of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,

which becomes a national sensation.

Best of luck to you, Naveen.

[McKay] He also sees

a lot of organizational mismanagement
and chaos.

James had to instill
a professional corporate culture.

And he, by all accounts, succeeded.

Within, I think, two years of his time,
Star turned a profit in Asia.

James actually remembers
coming back for a board meeting one day

and having one of the directors
pull him aside and say,

"I didn't think
you had it in you. Congrats."

At the time, both James and Lachlan
were on the board for News Corp.

And when they would get in the room
at these board meetings,

it was an opportunity for both of them
to perform for their father.

[cartoon music playing]

And I think maybe implicitly to compete
with each other in front of their father.

[tense music playing]

James would come in
challenging every point that Lachlan made.

They were bickering a lot.

And some people who remember those moments

will say that they felt bad for Lachlan,

and that it was awkward
for everyone involved.

But the fact that James was succeeding

started a lot of speculation
inside the News Corp headquarters

about whether James would actually
overtake his older brother

to become the successor.

[music ends]

Lachlan, meanwhile, has been laboring

in the claustrophobic confines
of the New York News Corp headquarters,

working at Fox News.

[Paul] He's thought of as quite lazy
by some people,

as quite arrogant by some people,

as quite pleased with himself
by some people.

Now, that may be unfair,
but it's a recurrent story that you get.

[McKay] But his words carried
a certain amount of weight,

maybe a disproportionate amount of weight,

because he was the boss's son.

And there were certain people
in the company,

like Roger Ailes,

who really resented
how much respect Lachlan commanded.

[Matthew] The impression at Fox
at the time

was that they were babysitting,

and they did not like that.

So Lachlan knew
that he had to prove himself

at a pretty significant moment
for Fox News.

- [siren wailing]
- [man shouting]

[woman 7] An incredible plane crash
into the World Trade Center

here at the lower tip of Manhattan.

[reporter 11] Another plane just flew
into the second tower.

[Sarah] 9/11 and a terrorist attack
on the United States

was a perfect moment for Fox.

[reporter 12] You're either with us
against the terrorists or you're with…

[Sarah] They were taking advantage
of a broad fear in the American public

and harnessing it and running with it.

[Alisyn] Roger Ailes personally
had an anti-Muslim bias,

and that attitude
showed up quite vividly on air.

[reporter 13]
Palestinians dancing in the street.

How did that make you feel?

That was the drum that we beat
every day, all day.

[Paddy] In the days after 9/11,

there was a panic
about anthrax being sent around

to various government offices
and media businesses.

[George W. Bush] As all Americans know,

recent weeks have brought a second wave
of terrorist attacks upon our country.

Deadly anthrax spores
sent through the US mail.

[reporter 14] In just a week, we have had
four confirmed cases of anthrax,

all with media connections.

- [tense music playing]
- [applause]

America has always stood
for human freedom.

[Sarah] So amid this environment
where everyone is on high alert,

the yearly Al Smith dinner
hosts Roger Ailes.

Actually Bill Clinton, this year…

[Sarah] That happens to be the night

when they learn that an envelope
full of white powder

has been sent to the Fox office.

[Paddy] The FBI comes in.

They identify that it is anthrax.
They close off the newsroom.

Lachlan is managing it
under advisement from the FBI

as a kind of workplace incident.

[Jonathan] Ailes is losing his mind. He's…

"We're under attack! We're under attack!"
He's freaking out.

Ailes wants to go nuclear.

[Paddy] He's thinking, "This is big news."

And directly against the advice
of the FBI, he goes public.

"Fox News is under attack."

Anthrax spores mailed to this building
where Fox News Channel sits.

[Paddy] Lachlan finds out about this,

storms downstairs
to confront Ailes directly.

"What are you doing?"

[Sarah] Lachlan tries to calm Ailes down,

but they end up verbally fighting

in front of a huge number of people
in the office.

This is not done to Roger Ailes.

[Paddy] He was probably the only person
inside News Corporation

that even Rupert was scared of.

[Jim] Roger Ailes lets Rupert have it.

"I am not gonna be lectured
by your children."

He's furious.

[Paddy] And in the end,

Rupert backs Roger over Lachlan.

[Jim] Ultimately, he'll give Ailes
a brand-new contract.

So Rupert basically
sent the message to Lachlan

that, "You're not to cross Ailes."

"You're second fiddle here."

[McKay] Lachlan is incredibly frustrated,
incredibly insulted by all of it.

And also is starting to realize

that even though
he's supposed to be the heir apparent,

that his dad has no interest in retiring
anytime soon.

[sprightly music playing]

[reporter 15] How does
having a young family again

affect your views on retirement?

Your own retirement, that is?

- Oh, it delays it forever. Hm.
- [laughter]

[Sarah] At this point,
Rupert and his third wife,

Wendi Deng Murdoch,

have two daughters, Grace and Chloe.

[Matthew] The other children
were never big fans of Wendi Deng.

They were skeptical of her.

Oh, come on.

[Sarah] And James and Lachlan
saw Wendi as being tough on their dad.

But Wendi wanted him to keep up with her.

[exhaling deeply]

Wendi has him under a sort of regimen.

He is on a strict diet of green juice,
and he's not allowed to have dessert.

[Jim] He undergoes this makeover.

He dyes his hair red.
He starts wearing a leather jacket.

Rupert goes from the Upper East Side,
established stodginess,

to downtown hip.

It's like the Fountain of Youth
for Rupert.

And unlike Anna, who didn't want
anything to do with the business,

Wendi wanted to know
what was going on in the company

and was very interested in it.

[Claire] Wendi went everywhere with him,

and she's becoming
also an advisor to the company.

[Sarah] She was very ambitious,

and she had a lot of hopes
for her two daughters.

She says that she wants her own children

to have the same standing
as Rupert's other children.

Where does that stand today, succession?

The little girls are too young
to consider this at the moment.

Do you consider them…
You have said, "They're all my children."

They'll all get treated
equally financially.

He goes on Charlie Rose,

and that is how his own children learn
that he is slicing up the trust

and giving his two youngest children
an equal stake in the inheritance.

[cash register rings]

[Paddy] Each of the four elder children
got paid $150 million

for agreeing to include Grace and Chloe
on the Murdoch Family Trust.

So Rupert's six kids
have an equal financial stake,

but only the four eldest kids have a vote.

[Charlie] You ran into some buzz saw
within the family

because of that decision?

We've resolved everything very happily.

In fact, it sets off a bomb
with the other kids.

But he doesn't apologize for this

and runs roughshod over their feelings
and their desires.

[Jim] We've seen this his entire life.

When Rupert wants something,

he will stop at nothing to get it.

[McKay] Often, the Murdoch family
would come together

for Christmas or Thanksgiving

on Rupert's superyacht
called Morning Glory.

[laid-back drumbeat playing]

James had been married to his wife,
Kathryn, for a while.

And Kathryn remembers
these legendary games of family Monopoly

that the Murdochs would play.

Once, she caught Rupert cheating…

[chuckles] …and called him out on it,

and he just kind of smirked and shrugged.

Apparently, this was a common feature
of their family Monopoly games.

And that sort of tells you everything
you need to know about him.

[Jim] So, after the changes to the trust,
the family is divided.

There's a lot of tension.

And especially with Rupert's
favored successor, Lachlan.

There are a lot of things
going on in Lachlan's head at that point.

And he was still feuding with Roger Ailes.

Ailes wants to get Fox Television
to back a new series

called Crime Line,
hosted by Geraldo Rivera.

Lachlan says it's too expensive,
and he blocks it.

Roger goes directly to Rupert.

Rupert reassures him
and says, "Don't worry about the boy."

[tense music playing]

[Paddy] "Don't worry about the boy.
Do the show."

[Sarah] It was a classic Murdoch moment.
Business over family.

[Paddy] Lachlan was in the air on his way
back to America from Australia

and found out about it when he landed.

[music peaks, ends]

He felt betrayed.

Rupert had backed Roger over him again.

[McKay] Lachlan tried to be the good son
and the loyal deputy.

But every time he tried to make a decision

that one of the other executives
didn't like,

they would go over his head to Rupert.

And Rupert would often overrule Lachlan.

So I think, for Lachlan,
the proximity to his dad

ended up being bad for his place
in the succession race.

[reporter 16] Some surprise news out of
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp overnight,

with his eldest son, Lachlan,
quitting his job as an executive.

[reporter 17] Lachlan Murdoch will remain
on the News Corporation board,

but plans to return home to Australia
and pursue an independent career.

[McKay] So now Liz and Prudence were
out of the running to be heir apparent.

And after Lachlan resigns in a huff,
moves back to Australia…

[suspenseful music playing]

…James is the only viable successor left.

[bell chimes]

[reporter 18] James Murdoch
has been given a larger role

overseeing all of News Corp's
European and Asian operations.

[reporter 19] 30-year-old James Murdoch
was appointed the new CEO of Sky

two weeks ago.

Everyone wants to see
the value of the company grow.

That's what we're gonna work to do.

[McKay] James' promotion
was pretty controversial.

There were howls of nepotism and outrage
that Rupert's relatively young son

was going to be entrusted with
this crown jewel of British broadcasting,

on top of the fact that this was the job
that Liz had been after.

[Kara] I'll tell you that James…
I met with him in London.

He was so arrogant.

Master of the universe kind of vibe.

[Sarah] At this point, even though
he hasn't gone to business school,

he starts talking
like he went to business school.

The abolition of media boundaries
is a trumpet call to expansion,

to do more.

[McKay] James starts to effect
a public persona

that a lot of people around him
suspected was modeled after Rupert.

[Sarah] He encourages all of his employees
to call themselves pirates.

So in his London office,

he has a life-sized statue of Darth Vader

and talks about them
running the Death Star.

[David] He is a good ambassador
for his father,

and he's also making the case that,

"I can be the brash disruptor."

"I can be the bold new force,
just as you once were."

The irony is that the more
he seemed to act like Rupert,

the more Rupert felt alienated by James.

But also, we look forward
to the government's…

[McKay] James begins to cultivate
his own inner circle.

He starts dining with prime ministers

and cozying up
to the liberal, respectable Establishment.

He wanted to modernize
and run this company

by what he considered to be
the best practices and standards.

So he was going to fire
the more toxic executives and employees

and emphasize human resources
and start to listen to the lawyers more.

All of this
really rubbed Rupert the wrong way.

He was really suspicious of James
trying to cozy up to the Establishment.

It kind of makes Rupert regret
that he doesn't have Lachlan around.

[Paul] After being forced out
by Roger Ailes,

Lachlan is in Australia
with his tail between his legs.

He was still
on the News Corporation board.

The profit motive is not only fundamental…

[Paddy] But he was doing his own thing,

looking to make big investments
for the company.

He was kind of humiliated,
but he still wants to emulate his father.

[Paul] The question is,
how good a businessman is Lachlan?

One of the things that's powering
newspapers at the time is classified ads,

but it's quite clear
that the newspapers are fading

and the Internet's gonna take
all the advertising revenue

and real-estate ads in particular.

So Lachlan says,
"We need to get a share of that."

And so when realestate.com comes along,
he buys it.

This is clearly a great deal, and it's
a great deal for everyone involved.

It's win-win-win.

[Paul] The decision to invest
in realestate.com.au

makes the family billions of dollars,

and it becomes the most valuable property
in the News Corp business in Australia.

I think they only paid $10 million.
It's now worth more than a billion.

[McKay] By taking himself
out of the running

and moving back to Australia
to set up his own shop

and start building
his own little media empire,

Lachlan becomes more desirable
to his father as a successor.

I think that his dad
kind of wants what he can't have.

Mr. Murdoch, the market's wondering
about your succession.

You said this week that,
virtually, you'll die in the saddle,

but you have to think of it.

It would be very nice.
It's every father's, uh, natural desire

to see, I think, his children follow him
if they're up to it.

And we'll have to see
how they, uh, work it out.

I hope not fight it out, but, uh…

I hope to be around for a few more years.

[somber music playing]

[Jonathan] Rupert is not a person
who likes to talk about his death.

[Sarah] But now he's 94 years old,

and he's clearly preparing
for one day when he eventually passes.

[Jim] At this point,

Liz, James, and Prue share concerns
about the direction of the company.

[man 7] Good morning, Mr. Murdoch.

[Jim] Rupert sees Fox as his legacy.

And he's convinced
that Lachlan is the only one

that will carry on what he built.

At the same time,
Lachlan's looking over his shoulder,

worried that after his father dies,

there could be a coup,
and he could be pushed aside.

So Rupert and Lachlan start
looking into the Murdoch Family Trust.

If Rupert doesn't get the trust
built around Lachlan,

it's over.

They want to figure out,

is there a way
to poke a hole in this trust?

And what they find
is there actually is a way,

as long as it was solely
for the benefit of all of the heirs.

The simplest way to understand it
is the trust had eight votes.

Four controlled by Rupert,
one controlled by each child.

So Rupert could never be outvoted,

but no child could be in control
when Rupert died.

So Rupert and Lachlan want to create

two new entities
that will control the trust.

And those entities will be able
to override the one that exists currently.

They're keeping it secret
from all the other children,

and they're going to do it
under a crazy codename,

"Project Family Harmony."

You have named your plan

to take the voting rights
of three children away from them

Project Family Harmony.

I mean, just mind blowing.

[tense music playing]

[McKay] There was a period of a few weeks,

and then James got an invitation
to join a Zoom call

for a special meeting on the family trust.

He did not know
what this meeting would be about.

He had no reason to believe there was
any need to meet about the family trust.

James was completely blindsided by this.

Then his managing director
received an agenda.

He called James and said,
"You need to look at this."

"Your dad is making a move
for the entire empire."

[computer bleeps]

About a week after that,
the Murdoch family get on the Zoom.

[computer bleeps repeatedly]

[Jim] There's a lot of tension
in the room.

[McKay] You have James
and his two sisters, Prudence and Liz,

and his older brother, Lachlan.

And you have Rupert

surrounded by a hundred lawyers.

He starts just kind of robotically
reading from this script.

[Jonathan] He tells them,
"I'm going to change the family trust."

[McKay] "You'll still have your shares,
but you'll have no voting power."

"You'll have no ability
to make decisions."

[music intensifies]

"It's just gonna be Lachlan
who has control."

So the meeting does not go
particularly well.

There's shouting. There's yelling.

It became very emotional.

[Jonathan] James can't believe
his father is saying this.

[McKay] That he was
willing to do something so provocative

and so harmful.

This is what had become of his family.

[Jim] Rupert says, "You would come in."

"You would change this company.
You would take it to the left."

"That's the golden goose
you're playing with."

"You need to go along with this."

"It's good for all of you
in spite of yourselves."

What's notable is that Lachlan is silent

when he had helped
architect the whole thing.

Liz can't contain herself.

She says, "How are you gonna get consensus
with a gun to our heads?"

It was brutal.

[computer chimes]

It's total war.

[instrumental music playing]