Lachlan Murdoch is full of shit

After Lachlan Murdoch writes that “Black lives matter” and that FOX is committed to diversity, Fox News pushes the same old bigotry

Written by John Whitehouse

Published

Around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, The New York Times’ Ben Smith tweeted a note from Fox Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch:

Dear Colleagues,

The events that have unfolded over the past week have left me shocked and saddened. Each of you has been in my thoughts as we watch the tragic death of George Flloyd continue to cause immense pain and spark important discussions around the country. It is essential that we grieve with the Floyd family, closely listen to the voices of peaceful protest and fundamentally understand that black lives matter.

The FOX culture embraces and fosters diversity and inclusion. Often we speak of the “FOX family,” and never has the need to depend on and care for that family been more important. We support our Black colleagues and the Black community, as we all unite to seek equality and understanding.

Our mission to provide the best in news is particularly vital at this time. Our brave local and national reporters continue to put themselves at risk to provide the latest information impacting all of us and our neighbors across the country. We support all journalists and will do what we can to protect their safety and denounce calls for, and acts of, violence against them.

This is a time for people to come together in their grief, work to heal, and coalesce to address injustice and inquiry in our country. This is an ongoing conversation, and no one has all the answers in this moment. As we each grapple with how to continue the discussion during this difficult and emotional time, please remember that there are many resources available to you, including our Employee Assistance Program, your HR business partner, and our Inclusion team.

As we grapple with this national tragedy, please stay safe and take good care of yourselves and your families.

My warmest regards,

Lachlan Murdoch

It’s unclear when exactly Murdoch sent this letter out.

Shortly after Smith sent his tweet, however, Fox News ran two promos for Tucker Carlson’s Fox show, the first during The Five, which aired a segment entirely about Carlson’s prior monologue:

From the June 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Five 

And then later The Story With Martha MacCallum, a so-called “straight news” show at Fox, ran this promo:

From the June 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha McCallum 

Carlson, of course, has a long and documented history of bigotry, including explicitly contradicting a number of points from Murdoch’s memo. Carlson has repeatedly attacked the concept of diversity and has, along with many of his past and present colleagues, railed against Black Lives Matter.

During Carlson’s show last night, a guest accused “angry, rich, entitled Blacks” of destroying America:

From the June 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Why do you think corporate America -- so many of our biggest and most profitable companies have jumped in so aggressively on the side of “Black Lives Matter," for example? 

BOB WOODSON: You know, I really think it's white guilt. And it's really white guilt, and also it's an easy out. There are two people that I think are destroying this country, and that is guilty white people and angry, rich, entitled Blacks who continue to play the race card and then -- they don't have to live with the consequences of their advocacy. When they are talking about -- the worst thing that can happen with police right now -- it's very ironic that as police nullification occur and they don't patrol in those communities, the murder rate goes up --

CARLSON: Of course.

WOODSON: And so actually, when these middle-class people who live in safe communities are villainized the police, and then -- but low-income people have to -- the murder rate goes up. That same study you quoted from Harvard, also documented the fact that the police nullification results in less police more Black-on-Black crime, more Black-on-Black deaths. Poor people are being hustled by these middle-class politicians -- as Malcolm X said, they're being bamboozled, scammed, hoodwinked, and one day that sleeping giant is going to wake up and understand who the real culprit is. And it is people who look like them who are failing to use their positions to profit the least of God's children. Instead, they're using it to benefit themselves and their own group. 

Carlson himself gave a monologue on “systemic racism” that made clear that either he had no idea what the term means or he was content to lie to his audience about it.

From the June 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): You have heard a lot recently about something called systemic racism. Almost no one ever bothers to explain precisely what systemic racism is but they make it very clear, that you are personally implicated in it. Are you? Well, here's the test. Ask yourself and be honest, have you ever mistreated somebody because of his race? If you have, you should atone for it. You ought to find the person you wronged and do your very best to make it better. But if you haven't done that, if you haven't mistreated an actual person, you should know that none of this applies to you. Being born a certain color does not make you guilty of a crime. In this country, we explicitly reject the idea of collective punishment. We don't believe in blood guilt. We don't hurt people because of what their ancestors did. We don't hold entire racial groups responsible for anything.

Murdoch knows all of this. In fact, he reportedly personally defended Carlson when he espoused white supremacist talking points about immigrants.

Shortly after the 2019 shooting in El Paso, Texas, in which the gunman was reportedly motivated by bigoted, xenophobic conspiracy theories identical to what Fox News and Carlson had aired, my colleague Matt Gertz wrote:

Fox News has traditionally treated bigotry as a core part of its business model. But since the political rise of President Donald Trump, the network’s commentators have adopted talking points that had previously been the province of hardcore white supremacists. The reported manifesto of the gunman who murdered 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, TX, on Saturday is all but indistinguishable from transcripts ripped from its prime-time shows. This shift is not an accident but a programming decision, one the network has pursued even as its hosts’ racist rhetoric has triggered costly ad boycotts. 

Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch are ultimately responsible for this toxic programming. Rupert, chairman of parent company Fox Corp., laid the foundation for the shift. He then ceded much of the day-to-day authority to Lachlan, who maintained that heading as the Fox Corp.’s executive chairman and CEO. 

Fox is feeding its audience a poisonous stew of bigoted, xenophobic conspiracy theories because that is what the Murdochs want the network to do.

That was true then and it’s true now.

Few people are as responsible for the state America is in as Lachlan Murdoch and his family. Don’t let this new statement persuade you otherwise. Fox News viewers for sure will not.