Andrew Selepak, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology instructional assistant professor, is quoted in “Lachlan Murdoch Has a Huge Fox News Headache on His Hands” published in Newsweek on Sept. 23.

Lachlan Murdoch will assume the reigns of Fox News after his father Rupert steps down. The news organization is facing major challenges including a large lawsuit settlement after falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was rigged against former President Donald Trump, and a ratings decline.

According to Selepak, “Cable news continues to face a ratings decline. Audiences are going to social media for their news and information, instead of the 24-hour news networks. The once-popular and influential channels’ remaining audience is older and outside of the target market that advertisers want.”

“This is especially worrisome for Fox News, which has already agreed to a nearly $800-million settlement with Dominion Voting and faces another potentially even larger settlement over a lawsuit with Smartmatic voting systems,” Selepak said.

He adds, “Essentially, it is a bad time for Lachlan Murdoch to be taking over for his father’s media empire with Fox News considered by some to be one of the most important parts of that empire. Once [Rupert] is gone, the expectation is that audiences will see big changes at News Corp and its various media holdings around the world, including potentially the company no longer being the go-to source for conservative media. And that is assuming there is much of an empire left as ratings declines are hurting many of their companies’ holdings.”

Posted: September 25, 2023
Category: Alumni News, College News
Tagged as: Andrew Selepak, Cable Ratings, Fox News, Lachlan Murdoch