After building and controlling News Corporation for 55 years, Rupert Murdoch is now facing a serious longer term challenge to his dynastic ambitions courtesy of the position proxy advisory powerhouse ISS has taken backing this proposal to give all shareholders the vote.

The longer term game here is succession planning at News Corp and I’ll be putting up this resolution to reduce the Murdoch family voting stake from 40% to 15% every year until the company’s supposedly independent directors move on the issue.

It will be a wide-ranging campaign. For instance, the key part of this week’s ISS report is extracted in this email I’ve just sent to the News Corporation analysts listed on the company’s website.

Sadly, most of the Australian media failed to cover this important development. No News Ltd paper even put it on the record and even The AFR was missing in action today.

At least the Fairfax broadsheets, The Age and The SMH, gave it a small run, but we’re yet to see it surface internationally.

Rupert’s favourite Australian cheer squad member, Terry McCrann, is still yet to weigh in on the whole question of whether it is appropriate that 70% of News Corp shares don’t get a vote.

There were a couple of minor errors in yesterday’s piece on this issue. ISS charges $45,000 not $57,000 for institutions who want to be told how to vote on every resolution put up by companies in the ASX300.

There were also two resolutions at last year’s AGM which produced significant protest votes. Nutty American shareholder activist Evelyn Davis put up her standard “make all directors stand for election every year” resolution and, with the backing of ISS, it received 32.65% in favour. Evelyn has put this one up again in 2007 and ISS has backed it.

The bigger protest vote last year was against the resolution on the News Corp poison pill which was opposed by 42.76% of votes cast, partly because Rupert couldn’t vote his 31% stake.

The other smokey in the pack is John Malone’s Liberty Media because the $15 billion peace deal with News Corp has yet to be consummated so theoretically his 18% voting stake could have a big impact when shareholders gather at New York’s Hudson Theatre on 19 October.

However, observers believe Malone will either back management or sit on his hands. Why upset future relations with Rupert for no good reason?

Monty Python meets Terry McCrann in today’s cheeky Mayne Report video on the News Corp campaign.