Rupert Murdoch Put His Son in Charge of Fox. It Was a Dangerous Mistake.

[DBoon]

...or two crucial weeks in late February and early March, powerful Fox hosts talked about the “real” story of the coronavirus: It was a Democratic- and media-led plot against President Donald J. Trump. Hosts and guests, speaking to Fox’s predominately elderly audience, repeatedly played down the threat of what would soon become a deadly pandemic.

The person who could have stopped the flow of misinformation was Ms. Scott’s boss, Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of the Fox Corporation. But he wasn’t paying much attention. The 48-year-old heir to his family’s media fortune was focused instead on buying a streaming company called Tubi for $440 million, a person who has spoken to him said. The acquisition would drive “long-term growth,” he proudly announced in a news release on March 17.

That same day, the number of coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 5,600.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/business/coronavirus-fox-news-lachlan-murdoch.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Short version: Fox News will support Trump, regardless of the truth or of the possible deadly consequences. Lachlan Murdoch refuses to get involved in managing Fox content. The end results is that for critical weeks, Fox chose to support Trump rather than present credible medical experts regarding Coronavirus. The resulting misinformation has had serious consequences for Coronavirus control.

The article ends:

Employees on Sunday were exchanging panicked texts about whether they should go to work on Monday. But one person who surely wasn’t exposed inside Sixth Avenue was Lachlan Murdoch. He hasn’t been seen in the company’s New York headquarters for weeks.

[hlthe2b]

1. Maybe he thought it would hasten, Rupert's demise.

[CentralMass]

2. I'm shocked.