Lachlan Murdoch may have bowed out of the News Corp succession
race, but reports are emerging that he did have streaks of the famous
Murdoch family ruthlessness.

According to The Wall Street Journal, News Corp is on a
charm offensive in the US, lobbying Democrats to endorse a bill
restricting the new Nielsen ratings systems the methodology of which,
News claims, has a negative effect on the Fox TV station group as their
lower common denominator programming appeals to lower income groups and
larger families.

The closing paragraphs from the August 9 WSJ piece tell the story and perhaps explain Lachlan’s
deliberate exclusion from meetings with his dad and Jack Abernathy of the Fox TV
Station group:

News Corp’s efforts may improve after last month’s departure of Lachlan
Murdoch, the 33 year old son of Rupert Murdoch and deputy Chief Operating
Officer of the media conglomerate. The younger Murdoch personally oversaw the
lobbying effort on the issue and while he brought in some influential
Republicans to back the measure, he made a tactical mistake in his dealings with
Nielsen.

At a meeting last year Mr Murdoch threatened to destroy Nielsen’s
reputation and begin a competing ratings system if Nielsen refused to
make changes in its new ratings system, according to Jack Loftus, a
spokesman for Nielsen. Lachlan Murdoch was travelling for business and
couldn’t be reached for comment.
Instead of caving to the powerful media conglomerate, Nielsen’s newly hired
chief executive, Susan Whiting, dug in. Ms Whiting recruited influential
minority leaders to rebut News Corp such as Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine
Waters (D. Calif.). Though the company had never before lobbied in Washington,
Nielsen has spent more than $6 million on lobbying since April 2004, according
to federal lobbying reports and company officials.

CRIKEY: Putting a Republican operative like Roger Ailes in charge of
the Fox Television group won’t exactly help smooth the way with
Democrats. Peter Chernin is News Corp’s nominated Democrat so
presumably he’ll be doing his bit to undo the damage done by Lachlan.