# News Corp Timeline Chronological reference for the **[[Rupert Murdoch]]** publishing empire — the newspapers, tabloids, and the [[Wall Street Journal]] that form the print half of the most consequential media dynasty in the English-speaking world. Where the [[Fox News Timeline]] tracks the cable-television machine, this timeline follows the institution Murdoch actually built first and loved most: the press. It runs from a single Adelaide paper in 1952 to a transcontinental empire that made and unmade prime ministers and presidents, through the phone-hacking scandal and the 2013 corporate split, to the 2024–2025 family trust war that decided who inherits it all — and the 2025 [[Wall Street Journal]] Epstein story that turned Murdoch's own paper into a Trump target. Sister timeline: [[Fox News Timeline]]. --- ## Era 1 — Adelaide to Fleet Street (1952–1975) - **1952** — At 21, **[[Rupert Murdoch]]** inherits *The News*, a single Adelaide newspaper, on the death of his father Sir Keith Murdoch. He builds it into **News Limited**, an Australian newspaper chain. - **1964** — Murdoch launches *The Australian*, the country's first national daily — establishing the pattern of using newspapers as instruments of political influence. - **1969** — Murdoch crosses to Britain, buying the *News of the World* and then *The Sun*, which he relaunches as a brash, populist tabloid (Page 3, screaming headlines) that becomes Britain's best-selling paper and a political force. ## Era 2 — The American Conquest (1976–1989) - **1976** — Murdoch buys the **[[New York Post]]**, his first major U.S. paper, importing the tabloid model to America. - **1979** — **[[News Corporation]]** is incorporated in Australia as the holding company for the global empire. - **1981** — Murdoch acquires the London *Times* and *Sunday Times*, the most prestigious mastheads in Britain — pairing tabloid reach with establishment credibility. - **1985** — Murdoch becomes a **naturalized U.S. citizen** (a legal requirement to own American TV stations) and buys 20th Century Fox, the move that launches the Fox broadcast network in 1986 and, later, [[Fox News]] (see [[Fox News Timeline]]). - **1989** — News Corp acquires the publisher **HarperCollins**, extending into books. ## Era 3 — Political Kingmaker (1990–2006) - **1992** — After the British election, *The Sun* runs the headline "**It's The Sun Wot Won It**," cementing the perception of Murdoch's papers as election-deciding power. **RWKB angle**: the open boast that a tabloid swung a national election is the purest statement of the [[Propaganda]] power the KB tracks across the Murdoch empire. - **1995–1997** — Murdoch courts Tony Blair's New Labour; *The Sun* switches its endorsement. Politicians of both British parties learn they must win Murdoch's favor — a [[Media Capture]] dynamic in reverse, where the press captures the politicians. - **1996** — [[Fox News]] launches in the U.S. (detailed on the [[Fox News Timeline]]), giving Murdoch a cable megaphone to match his print power. ## Era 4 — Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal (2007) - **2007** — News Corp acquires **[[Dow Jones]]** — and with it **[[The Wall Street Journal]]** — from the Bancroft family for **~$5 billion**. See [[News Corp - Wall Street Journal Acquisition]]. The deal includes editorial-independence guarantees (a special committee) that critics say erode over time. The *Journal*'s opinion pages, already conservative, become a flagship of the pro-business right, while its news pages retain a strong reputation. ## Era 5 — Phone Hacking and the Split (2011–2013) - **July 2011** — The **phone-hacking scandal** explodes when it emerges that the *News of the World* hacked the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, among thousands of others. Murdoch **closes the 168-year-old paper**; executives are arrested; the Leveson Inquiry probes press ethics; a planned full takeover of BSkyB collapses. **RWKB angle**: the scandal is a landmark in the [[Elite Impunity]] story — a media empire operating above the law until public outrage forced a partial reckoning. - **2013** — Under shareholder and legal pressure, Murdoch **splits the empire in two**: a new **[[News Corporation]]** (publishing — the [[Wall Street Journal]], the [[New York Post]], the UK and Australian papers, HarperCollins) and **[[21st Century Fox]]** (film and television, including [[Fox News]]). ## Era 6 — Succession and the Trust War (2015–2025) - **2019** — **[[The Walt Disney Company]] buys most of [[21st Century Fox]]** for ~$71 billion; the news and sports assets the Murdochs keep become [[Fox Corporation]]. The publishing-side [[News Corporation]] continues separately. - **September 2023** — **[[Rupert Murdoch]] steps down** as chairman of both [[Fox Corporation]] and [[News Corporation]]; elder son **[[Lachlan Murdoch]]** — the most conservative heir — takes control. - **2024** — In a sealed Nevada probate case ("Project Family Harmony"), Rupert tries to **amend the irrevocable family trust** to guarantee [[Lachlan Murdoch]] permanent control over the more moderate siblings [[James Murdoch]], Elisabeth, and Prudence. A probate commissioner rules against Rupert and Lachlan in December 2024, finding they acted in "bad faith." - **September 8, 2025** — The family **settles for ~$3.3 billion**: Prudence, Elisabeth, and [[James Murdoch]] are bought out at ~$1.1 billion each and exit; a new trust gives [[Lachlan Murdoch]] **sole voting control** of [[Fox Corporation]] and [[News Corporation]] (with younger sisters Grace and Chloe holding non-voting economic stakes). See [[Murdoch Trust Settlement]]. The settlement locks in a conservative editorial direction for the empire for a generation. ## Era 7 — The Wall Street Journal vs. Trump (2025–2026) - **July 17–18, 2025** — **The [[Wall Street Journal]] reports** that a bawdy 50th-birthday letter bearing [[Donald Trump]]'s name was in a 2003 album assembled for [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. Trump denies writing it. - **July 18, 2025** — Trump **sues the [[Wall Street Journal]], [[Dow Jones]], [[News Corporation]], [[Rupert Murdoch]], and two reporters for $10 billion** in defamation. **RWKB angle**: the suit is remarkable because it targets Murdoch's own paper — the one major Murdoch outlet willing to cross Trump on his most sensitive subject, exposing a fault line between the *Journal*'s news operation and the pro-Trump posture of the rest of the empire. - **April 13, 2026** — Judge Darrin Gayles **dismisses** the suit, ruling Trump failed to plausibly allege "actual malice" under [[New York Times Co. v. Sullivan]] ("ill-will is insufficient to plead actual malice"). - **Late May 2026** — Trump **files an amended complaint** in the $10 billion suit, keeping the [[Wall Street Journal]] under legal pressure and continuing the second-term pattern of using defamation litigation against the press. --- ## Why This Matters — RWKB Significance News Corp is the KB's study in how a family dynasty turned newspapers into transcontinental political power — and in the limits of that power. **The press as political kingmaker.** "It's The Sun Wot Won It" and the bipartisan courtship of Murdoch by British and American politicians show a [[Propaganda]] machine powerful enough that officeholders sought its favor. The Murdoch papers did not just cover politics; they set the terms on which it was conducted, across three countries. **[[Elite Impunity]] and its limits.** The phone-hacking scandal is the empire's clearest brush with accountability — a media company operating above the law until public revulsion forced it to close a flagship paper. The episode marks both the reach of Murdoch power and the rare moment it was checked. **Dynastic succession as media power.** The 2024–2025 trust war was not a private family matter — it determined the political direction of [[Fox Corporation]] and [[News Corporation]] for a generation. [[Lachlan Murdoch]]'s victory locks in the conservative line; the moderating influence of [[James Murdoch]] is bought out. The KB tracks dynasties precisely because outcomes like this convert family control into durable ideological infrastructure. **The one outlet that crossed Trump.** The 2025 [[Wall Street Journal]] Epstein story and Trump's $10 billion suit reveal the fault line inside the empire: the *Journal*'s news operation retained enough independence to publish what the rest of Murdoch media would not. It is the exception that illuminates the rule — and a reminder that "Murdoch media" is not monolithic. --- ## See Also - [[Fox News Timeline]] — the broadcast half of the empire - [[Rupert Murdoch]] / [[Lachlan Murdoch]] / [[James Murdoch]] — the dynasty - [[News Corporation]] / [[Dow Jones]] / [[21st Century Fox]] / [[Fox Corporation]] — the corporate structure - [[Wall Street Journal]] / [[New York Post]] — the flagship papers - [[Murdoch Trust Settlement]] / [[News Corp - Wall Street Journal Acquisition]] — the deal records - [[Media Consolidation]] / [[Media Capture]] / [[Elite Impunity]] — the structural concepts - [[Right-Wing Media Timeline]] — the broader ecosystem