Marcus May, our regular Murdoch Watch correspondent, has been keeping track of events surrounding the Murdoch family.

It’s been another really bad month for Murdoch media.

First, Rupert and son Lachlan lost their Nevada court case, where they tried to change the conditions of the family trust to ensure that Lachlan was the sole controlling force behind News Corp once Rupert exits.

Next Prince Harry has won his court case against the Murdoch empire, in what his lawyers claimed to be a “monumental” victory over Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group after the publisher settled his lawsuit and gave a rare apology.

Then British actor Hugh Grant, no doubt buoyed by Prince Harry’s victory, has called for police to open an investigation into owners [Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers] of British tabloid paper The Sun after Prince Harry settled his privacy claim this week.

And finally, Grace Tame, former Australian of the Year, turned up at the Australian of the Year Awards morning tea at The Lodge wearing a t shirt with the slogan "F*** Murdoch" and attracted copious media and public commentary.

The Nevada Court Ruling

This is the attempt by Rupert Murdoch to change his family trust in a way that would have secured Lachlan’s position atop the global media empire. It would have effectively prevented the other Murdoch children from having any influence or power in the running of the empire, and they predictably challenged that attempt in the courts.

The probate commissioner in Nevada who heard Rupert Murdoch’s application, Edmund Gorman, was scathing in his ruling, saying father and son had acted in “bad faith” in their bid to change an “irrevocable” family trust that divides control of Fox News and News Corporation equally among Murdoch’s four eldest children from his first and second marriages: Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James.

In the 96-page ruling, Gorman described the plan to change the trust as a “carefully crafted charade” to permanently consolidate Lachlan’s executive roles inside News, “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the family trust.

So, what does that ruling mean?

Eric Beecher, a former Murdoch editor, now chair of Private Media and author of The Men Who Killed the News, wrote in Crikey:

The leadership of both Murdoch companies, News Corp and Fox (combined market capitalisation of around US$40 billion), is now deeply uncertain as a result of the commissioner’s ruling. The non-Murdoch shareholders — who own more than 80% of each company — have woken up to the news that their chairman is likely to lose his job when his father dies, the family that controls those companies’ voting shares is locked in a bitter legal fight, and control of those companies is precarious. And shareholders and markets hate uncertainty.

Harry’s Big Win

As reported in The New Daily, Prince Harry has claimed a “monumental” victory over Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group after the publisher settled his lawsuit and gave a rare apology.

For the first time, Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) admitted “unlawful activities” at its tabloid newspaper The Sun while reporting on Harry.

In a further stunning admission, NGN said it had also been involved in “serious intrusion” of the private life of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana.

A source familiar with the settlement said the damages involved an eight-figure sum — reportedly $20 million.

“NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun,” Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said.

And Hugh Follows Suit

Actor Hugh Grant has called for police to open an investigation into owners of British tabloid paper The Sun after Prince Harry settled his privacy claim this week. Grant was also part of the lawsuit but reluctantly settled in 2024.

The actor told BBC Radio both incidents had shown a civil case was "not the right instrument" to get to "the real truth" of what happened at the newspaper.

Grant argued a new police investigation was needed because people who were at the paper at the time that private investigators who carried out "unlawful activity" were instructed were still in "positions of great power".

Former executives accused of playing a role include Will Lewis who is now CEO of the Washington Post and Rebekah Brooks, CEO of News UK, a division of News Corp. They have denied wrongdoing.

Then Grace is Succinct

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has called out the Murdoch media empire in her own way, wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "F*** Murdoch" during a morning tea with the prime minister.

Anthony Albanese hosted the event at his Canberra residence, The Lodge, welcoming former winners and finalists for this year's awards ahead of the main celebration on Saturday evening.

As Ms Tame shook his hand, she turned to face the media, showing off her T-shirt. She also had her say:

One thing that I think unites us is that we want to make progress and a huge roadblock to making progress is the fact … the world, for far too long, has been ruled by disproportionately, morbidly wealthy, corporate oligarchs.

She said she thought the prime minister was "quite uncomfortable" when he saw what she was wearing.

"I will never lose my passion," she said. "There should be a little clause underneath [the words] with an asterisk that says, 'not literally'," she said.

All in all, it has not been a good month for Murdoch has it! And with an Australian federal election coming up, let’s be on our toes to make Murdoch’s reporting accountable, and to be “Accurate and Impartial”, like the ABC!