A.J. Bauer, Guest Columnist

The Murdochs’ Commitment to Conservatism Has an Asterisk

What gets lost when the succession is framed as a win for Republicans are the contradictions in Rupert’s effort to define what it means to be a right-wing outlet.

September 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM UTC

By A.J. Bauer

A.J. Bauer is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama. He is the author of "Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against the Press," forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

What version of conservatism is it going to be this time?
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America

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The announcement earlier this week that Lachlan Murdoch will succeed his father Rupert in controlling the family’s global media empire has been framed by media analysts as a win for conservatives.

Rupert himself described the decades-long family squabble over Fox Corp. and News Corp. as premised on preserving the ideological integrity of media outlets he has called the “protector of the conservative voice in the English-speaking world.”