Bloomberg/Getty

Rupert Murdoch's real power

Moving the Market: The New York Times Magazine has just published a massive cover story about Rupert Murdoch and his media empire that accuses the 88-year-old titan of enabling, promoting and profiting from the global rise of right-wing populism.

The Big Picture: "Few private citizens have ever been more central to the state of world affairs than [Murdoch]," Jim Rutenberg and Jonathan Mahler report. "His family's outlets have helped elevate marginal demagogues, mainstream ethno-nationalism and politicize the very notion of truth."

The Top Lines:

• Murdoch's news divisions were "instrumental in amplifying the nativist revolt that [reshaped] governments... across the planet."

• "It may not have been the family’s mission to destabilize democracies around the world, but that has been its most consequential legacy."

• "To see Fox News as an arm of the Trump White House risks missing the larger picture. It may be more accurate to say that the White House [and] the prime ministers’ offices in Britain and Australia [are tools] that this family uses to exert influence over world events."

The Backstory: Rutenberg and Mahler spent over six months talking to more than 150 sources across the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

• "What we as reporters had not fully appreciated until now is the extent to which these two stories — one of an illiberal, right-wing reaction sweeping the globe, the other of a dynastic media family — are really one."

Bloomberg/Getty

What James and Lachlan lost

Big on the Fox lot: The Times story highlights what some Hollywood executives have described to me as the untold story of the Disney-21st Century Fox merger, which is that the elder Murdoch may not have had full confidence in either of his sons to run his empire.

Behind the Merger, via Rutenberg and Mahler:

• "James instantly seized on the idea [of a sale to Disney], seeing it both as a way out of the family business and as a possible route to the biggest job in the media. .... A top job in Disney’s corporate hierarchy could put James in the running to take over."

• "Lachlan was furious. His father was talking about dismantling ... an empire that had taken a lifetime to build. He argued that 21st Century Fox was big enough to compete as it as was. The smaller piece of the empire that he would be left with ... was hardly a growth business."

Neither one got "what he had really wanted." James didn't go to Disney; Lachlan ended up running the smaller piece of the empire.

• But don't cry for them: Rupert made $4 billion; each of his six children received $2 billion; and Lachlan and James made "an additional $20 million in Disney stock, plus golden parachutes worth about $70 million each."

Drew Angerer/Getty

Big questions for Bob Iger

Big in Burbank: With Disney's takeover of 21st Century Fox and the transfer of Fox executives Peter Rice, Uday Shankar, Jan Koeppen and others to positions of power across Disney's global empire, Fox's legacy is now in Bob Iger's hands.

• Indeed, one might argue that the installment of so many Murdoch loyalists across Disney amounts to a reverse takeover by Fox.

Which raises big questions for Iger:

• Will Disney culture prevail over the Fox executives and their culture?

• Will Rice, oft described as Rupert's third son, inherit Iger's throne?

• Will Iger address this story?

What's Next: There's no clearer illustration of the clash of cultures than the "Bones" arbitration scandal, wherein a judge ordered Fox to pay $179 million to the show's team after ruling that Rice and other executives withheld money from them and gave false testimony.

• Fox denied the allegations and Iger expressed “complete confidence” in his executives, but it was an indication of potential fault lines in the relationship.

⛺ Rally the Market ⛺

Top U.S. vacation havens, per Bloomberg: #1 Summit Park, Utah. #2 Edwards, Colo. #3 Breckenridge, Colo. #4 Jackson, Wyoming/Idaho. #5 Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Here's to the Mountain West.

If you're enjoying the newsletter, share it with friends.

Larry Busacca/Getty

Suzanne Scott in the spotlight

Big in Midtown: Fox News chief Suzanne Scott is "the most powerful female executive in TV news," Variety's Brian Steinberg reports. To date, she "has managed to keep out of the spotlight," but as scrutiny of the network's close ties to President Trump mount, "her anonymity may no longer be possible."

• This is Scott's first interview since taking over Fox News last May. It's absolutely remarkable that the person who replaced Roger Ailes spent this long flying under the radar.

Top Lines, via Steinberg:

• "Scott ... like Ailes ... is unapologetic about the channel’s primetime lineup of contentious right-wing hosts."

• "Scott wants it known ... that she pays more attention to the demands of Fox News viewers than she does to scathing commentary from critics."

• "'We became No. 1 under President Bush. We stayed No. 1 under President Obama. We are still No. 1,' she says. 'My focus is on business.'"

The Big Picture: "The Fox News cash cow generates the bulk of the finances of its parent company," and Lachlan Murdoch praises Scott for "a results-driven approach to her work."

Big in your earbuds ...

• My colleague Chuck Todd is launching a podcast called "The Chuck ToddCast," a weekly, unscripted take on politics and 2020. The episodes, which air Wednesday, will feature conversations with the nation's top political reporters and interviews and dispatches from the campaign trail.

Pail Morigi/Getty

Matt Kaminski next at Politico

Big in the Beltway: Politico publisher Robert Allbritton has announced that Matthew Kaminski, the site's global editor, will take over for the company's founding editor-in-chief, John Harris.

• Kaminski, a former Wall Street Journal opinion writer, joined Politico last year.

• Harris will now join the company’s board and return to writing.

• Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico’s U.S. editor, who was thought by some to be in line for the top job, will now report to Kaminski.

The Big Picture, via WSJ's Ben Mullin: It's "a changing of the guard for a news outlet that helped usher in a new style of up-to-the-minute, and exhaustive, political journalism."

Market Links

• Tim Cook sees 200,000 new subscriptions to Apple News+ (NYT)

• Susan Wojcicki faces scrutiny over YouTube's toxic content (Bloomberg)

• Mark Zuckerberg blocks bad content ahead of India 2019 (BuzzFeed)

• Bob Iger defends Disney against an unequal pay lawsuit (NYT)

• Susan Zirinsky moves to keep Gayle King at CBS News (Vanity Fair)

Bloomberg/Getty

Makan Delrahim on Netflix

Talk of Tinseltown: Justice Department antitrust chief Makan Delrahim has warned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences against limiting Netflix's Oscars eligibility because it might violate antitrust law, Variety's Ted Johnson reports.

• Delrahim to AMPAS chief Dawn Hudson: “In the event that the Academy... establishes certain eligibility requirements for the Oscars that eliminate competition without pro-competitive justification, such conduct may raise antitrust concerns."

The trouble with Delrahim's warning is that the Academy isn't talking about prohibiting Netflix from Oscars eligibility. It's just looking to set terms for theatrical windows.

• Janet Maslin on Twitter: "This is about the way an individual film is distributed. It’s not about a distributor or streaming company’s overall policy. Netflix or anyone else can comply with Academy rules when it wants Oscar eligibility. What part of that is hard to understand?"

Elsewhere in Washington, WSJ's Keach Hagey reports that Democratic Rep. David Cicilline and Republican Rep. Doug Collins will introduce a new bill to allow news publishers to team up on negotiations with tech giants such as Google and Facebook.

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty

Helen Mirren on Netflix

The Real Talk of Tinseltown...

• Helen Mirren: "I love Netflix, but f*** Netflix!”

What's Next: Hollywood Chart of the Day, via Matthew Ball: The Marvel Cinematic Universe's box office returns ... aka: Why Bob Iger isn't worried about Dumbo's failure to fly.

See you tomorrow.