sole owner of 20th century fox. wasn t one of his children to succeed him, but he doesn t say when, who and how. it s going to have to be fought out between them. two minutes to the official start of the race. there are the boats. the race in australia, it s a big deal. it s a kind of their super bowl. lachlan had done a lot of sailing and he eagerly signed up for the 98 race. 54th race. he sailed onboard the boat sayonara. up on the high side there, getting out. it was a beautiful day. and not long after the race began there was a line of clouds. like a black wall. there were wind gusts of close to 100 miles per hour. and the waves were enormous. is there anything you fear in life? you always worry, i think, about the unexpected that could happen. it could bring all this tumbling down. the boats would head into the waves and they d stort of climb up, and then they d go launching off the top of the wave and hurtling down. certainly one has to remain
ratings go up. sex and murder and blood and mayhem. people are 40% of the circulation of newspapers. this is his moment to expand. murdoch put his stamp on the city of new york. here i am. you better pay some attention. i m gonna have one hell of an impact. as usual, we were drinking one night. the producers, the reporters and me. we always gathered. the first concrete block was removed by east german workers. we hear the berlin wall is coming down. what? we ve got to go. what? a current affairs got to go to the wall? oh, yeah. so we made a few calls. and we commandeered the gulfstream jet. and about eight or nine of us got on that jet at midnight and flew to berlin. a current affair was rupert s baby. to the point where i believe rupert wrote a check out of his own checking account every single week for the hoe. this show is rampant. rupert liked it because it was cheap. it was edgy. it was a tabloid show. he said, there is a place for a show like this an
rupert murdoch is announcing a 24 hour cable news network. fox news channel, flare fair and balanced. it becomes clear that fox news is roger ailes. river said, among the three children, it was very likely that lachlan would be the first month among equals. it is the first moment where james and elizabeth are given a little window into how their father sees this thing, and they could turn their back on this business and essentially waved the white flag, or try and double down and proved themselves to their father. they choose the latter. is october, 2001, and roger ailes is at an annual dinner, attended by all the new york politicians, the aisles with dinner. i trust you will have enjoyed your meal. this is one of the events in new york city politics. roger ailes has been the architect of fox news. one of very few people who rupert really, really trusts, and who rupert really needs. as the evening is winding down, roger hears from juliet s office, the news c
the sarissa. named after a macedonian weapon of war. it s this exquisite sailing vessel. it s a work of art. as we understand it, they re sleeping on the boat. it s the caribbean. it s peaceful. in the middle of the night, rupert gets up to relieve himself and trips and falls. rupert is lying on the floor of his cabin, and he can t get up and the situation seems serious, he may not survive. a lot is at stake here, his own life as well as his company. he has not yet designated an heir. and the future of his media empire will be up for grabs. stand by. there we go. okay. get ready to roll. tell me a little bit about rupert murdoch. rupert murdoch is the most powerful political force in america. you can put an eagle in a cage and the eagle will not give in. you don t know what they re thinking but you know it s going to end up well for you. that s how i think of him. i m a murdoch admirer. i always have been. murdoch is the most ruthless businessman in worl
states, my friend donald j. trump. rupert murdoch is a direct line of the oval office in a way he s never enjoyed before. proximity to power. there probably would not have been a president trump without fox news. maybe we won t do it anymore with them. you give the viewers what they want. whatever his instinct is, that s what a great leader is. the channel became focused on telling him what he wanted to hear. james is watching this all in dismay. he is getting uncomfortable with the network under the leadership of his own father. but lachlan and rupert s view was why would we change this? we ve never had bigger ratings. and cracks inside the family are starting to appear. it s august 2017 and rupert murdoch invites bob iger, the head of disney, to have a drink with him at his $29 million vineyard in the hills of bel air. rupert offers iger a glass of wine and they begin to talk. like rupert, bob iger s an empire builder too. for years he s been buildin