Marcus May, our regular correspondent and News Corp monitor, reports on the latest happenings in Murdoch land.

News Corp shareholders last week rejected a bid by activist investor Starboard Value to break up the Rupert Murdoch family’s control of the media group.

As reported earlier in November in ABC Friends Vic e-news, Activist hedge fund Starboard Value, which has accumulated a substantial stake in News Corp over the past year, has proposed a one-share-one-vote system.

If successful, the bid would have removed the Murdoch family dominance over the company, which relied upon the Murdoch family holding the critical “voting” shares in the company.

However, shareholders have decided to keep the Murdoch family in full control of News Corp – and that’s certainly a big win for the Murdochs.

On the other hand, last week the Murdoch-run Sky News came under severe public criticism over its coverage of the Trump election and its possible effect on the position of Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd.

The fact that Sky News can be opinionated rather than factual is no surprise, in fact deliberate campaigns to influence political outcomes could be seen as standard behaviour for Sky News.

This time, the former ambassador to the US Dennis Richardson has accused some presenters at Sky News Australia of running a campaign to undermine the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and end his tenure as the country’s top diplomat to the US.

The Guardian media reported, “Clearly what is unfolding here is an effort to make Rudd’s life untenable,” Richardson told Guardian Australia on Thursday. He said it appeared to him that their intention was “nothing short of the removal of the Australian ambassador to Washington”.

The former ambassador, who has also served as secretary of both the defence and foreign affairs departments and head of ASIO, said the attention on Rudd’s past remarks about president-elect Donald Trump – which included calling him “a village idiot” and “not a leading intellectual force” – had not caused irreparable damage. The former ambassador said Rudd had been among many who had criticised Trump – including his vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, and the incoming secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

“Why singular attention should be given to what the Australian ambassador to Washington said is  a deliberate campaign,” Richardson said, adding that the rest of the Australian media “should be calling it out”.

“Are we going to allow certain presenters on Sky News to determine who is the Australian ambassador to Washington? Or are we going to say ‘we know what Rudd has said in the past, we know what the vice-president-elect has said, we know what the incoming secretary of state has said.

“What the hell is your agenda? Are you seeking to report the news or make the news?”

Good question, what is the agenda Mr Murdoch?

Meanwhile, the inter-family courtroom feud, where Rupert and Lachlan battle James, Elizabeth and Prudence for complete control of the Murdoch empire, continues behind closes doors in Reno Nevada.

How exciting ….