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A spotlight is shining down on a small court in Reno, Nev., to settle a family squabble and decide the future of a global media empire.
聚光灯照耀着内华达州里诺市的一个小法庭，法庭正在解决一场家庭纠纷，并决定全球媒体帝国的未来。
It reads like an episode of "Succession," that dramatic behind-the-scenes battle between Rupert Murdoch and three of his children.
这就像是《继承之战》的一集，讲述了鲁伯特·默多克和他的三个孩子之间戏剧性的幕后斗争。
Ninety-three-year-old Rupert Murdoch and his children are embroiled in a court case over who will take control over Fox Corp and News Corp, the family businesses. We're talking newspapers, publishing, radio and television.
93岁的鲁伯特·默多克和他的孩子们对簿公堂，争夺谁将控制家族企业福克斯公司和新闻集团。我们谈论的是报纸、出版、广播和电视。
The empire includes Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal here in the U.S., The Times in the U.K., and The Australian in Murdoch's native land. Murdoch started all this with a local Australian paper that he inherited from his dad.
这个帝国包括美国的《福克斯新闻》、《纽约邮报》和《华尔街日报》，英国的《泰晤士报》，以及默多克祖国的《澳大利亚人报》。默多克从父亲那里继承了一份澳大利亚当地报纸，由此开始了媒体帝国。
Rupert Murdoch once agreed to divide equal control of his empire to his four eldest children. Now he wants just his eldest son, Lachlan, in charge of it all.
鲁伯特·默多克曾同意将帝国的控制权平分给他的四个大孩子。现在他只想让长子拉克兰掌管一切。
But with pushback from his other children, the probate court will decide what's ultimately allowed and who will inherit control. This is THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY. I'm Darian Woods.
但由于其他孩子的反对，遗嘱认证法庭将决定最终允许什么以及谁将继承控制权。这里是THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY。我是Darian Woods。
And I'm Adrian Ma. Today on the show - how did the real-life Murdoch "Succession" drama come to be, and what'll this mean for the future of one of the most influential media networks on the planet and our political discourse?
我是Adrian Ma。今天节目将讨论现实生活中的默多克“继承之战”系列剧是如何产生的，这对地球上最具影响力的媒体网络之一的未来和我们的政治话语意味着什么？
To learn more about the Murdoch family court case, we're speaking with NPR's media correspondent and author of the book "Murdoch's World: The Last Of The Old Media Empires." It's the one and only David Folkenflik. Welcome to THE INDICATOR, David.
为了了解更多关于默多克家族法庭案件的信息，我们采访了NPR的媒体记者兼Murdoch's World: The Last Of The Old Media Empires一书的作者。他就是独一无二的戴维·福尔肯弗里克（David Folkenflik）。欢迎来到THE INDICATOR，戴维。
Hello, mate. We need to start with the obvious here, though, for the show. The HBO hit show "Succession" seems to be playing out in real time here. Am I wrong?
你好，伙计。不过，对于这个节目，我们需要从显而易见的事情开始。 HBO热播剧《继承之战》似乎正在这里实时上演。对吗？
Theme song plays in my head at night. You know, put my head to the pillow, and I can just hear it. It's absolutely what was happening.
晚上，我脑海里响起主题曲。把头靠在枕头上，我就能听到它。这绝对是当时发生的事情。
You have Rupert Murdoch and his elder son, high-powered attorneys for all, in a courtroom in Reno, Nev., against his other three eldest children.
在内华达州里诺的法庭上，鲁珀特·默多克和他的大儿子，所有人的强力律师，对抗他的其他三个大孩子。
And if this is not an utter breakdown of familial and corporate bonds, I don't know what is.
如果这不是家庭关系和公司关系的彻底破裂，我不知道是什么了。
So the real-life case - what are the origins of the succession battle between Rupert Murdoch's children?
那么现实生活中的案例——鲁伯特·默多克子女之间的继承权之争的起源是什么？
The irrevocable trust stems from Murdoch walking out on his second wife, the mother of Elisabeth, Lachlan and James Murdoch. And she decides to strike a deal.
不可撤销的信托源于默多克抛弃了他的第二任妻子，伊丽莎白、拉克兰和詹姆斯的母亲。她决定达成协议。
Instead of suing him to try to get half of his worldly possessions, which would have been a whole lot of media holdings, she says, I'll take a lot less.
她说，与其起诉他试图拿走他一半的世俗财产（这本来是一大笔媒体资产），我宁愿少拿一点。
That ends up being $110 million, which is a whole lot of money, but a lot less than she might have been able to get. Yeah.
最终的结果是1.1亿美元，这是一大笔钱，但比她可能拿到的要少得多。是的。
She said, the rest of it, I want a promise that Murdoch's daughter from his first marriage and my three kids will share equally in the bounty of his legacy when Murdoch dies and, further, that they will share control equally.
她说，剩下的钱，我希望得到一个承诺，即默多克去世后，他与第一任妻子所生的女儿和我的三个孩子将平分遗产，而且，他们将平分控制权。
They will have equal shares of the Murdoch family trust. So it's about who sets the direction for News Corp in the future.
他们将平分默多克家族信托基金。所以，问题在于谁来为新闻集团的未来设定方向。
He really pits his children - and especially his two sons - against each other for competition over decades. And this is the way they will prove their value to him.
他真的让自己的孩子们——尤其是他的两个儿子——在几十年的时间里相互竞争。这就是他们向他证明自己价值的方式。
He has essentially conditioned his expression of approval and love for his sons through how they perform and how much they embrace what he wants.
他基本上通过儿子们的表现以及他们对他要求的接受程度来表达他对儿子的认可和爱。
So Rupert Murdoch wants to revoke the irrevocable trust. How did Lachlan ultimately become his father's choice to succeed?
因此，鲁伯特·默多克想要撤销不可撤销的信托。拉克兰最终是如何成为他父亲的继任者的？
Well, so there's been this back-and-forth, this push and pull, particularly between the two boys, over the decades. You know, Lachlan had been his father's right-hand man.
几十年来，这两个男孩之间一直存在着这种拉锯战。拉克兰一直是他父亲的得力助手。
And James was also getting some flavor, but being seen as a bit more of a rebel. He created Rawkus Records, wears an earring. He's seen more as a rebel at that time.
詹姆斯也获得了一些关注，但更具反叛精神。他创立了Rawkus Records，戴着耳环。当时他更像是一个反叛者。
Lachlan, you know, was ultimately - 20-some years ago - appointed to be the deputy chief operating officer, a term that I think exists at exactly zero other major American corporations.
拉克兰最终在20多年前被任命为副首席运营官，我认为这个职位在其他美国大公司中是不存在的。
And so Lachlan gets experience. But Lachlan finds that these other top officials inside the corporation, including the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes, are undermining him at every opportunity...
因此，拉克兰获得了经验。但拉克兰发现，公司内部的其他高层官员，包括福克斯新闻负责人罗杰·艾尔斯，都在利用一切机会破坏他的名声……
Roger Ailes had gone over Lachlan's head to talk to Rupert, and Rupert said something that got back to Lachlan.
罗杰·艾尔斯越过拉克兰去和鲁伯特谈话，拉克兰知道了一些鲁伯特的话：
And that was, don't worry about the boy. Shiving him in the back and really making it very hard for him to prove himself.
别担心这个男孩。背后捅他一刀，让他很难证明自己。
So he decamps for Australia. Rupert says, oh, this is a sign of weakness.
于是他逃往澳大利亚。鲁伯特说，哦，这是软弱的表现。
Well, this is James' turn. James gets elevated. Although he's not interested in the newspapers, they prove to be his undoing.
好吧，轮到詹姆斯了。詹姆斯升职了。虽然他对报纸不感兴趣，但报纸却成了他的败笔。
Right. This is when the U.K.'s popular newspaper News of the World hacked into a ton of celebrities' voicemails, like Boris Johnson and Prince Harry and Gwyneth Paltrow.
对。当时英国的热门报纸《世界新闻报》侵入了大量名人的语音信箱，比如鲍里斯·约翰逊、哈里王子和格温妮丝·帕特洛。
That's exactly right. So James gets caught up in this tabloid scandal in Britain.
完全正确。所以詹姆斯卷入了英国的这起小报丑闻。
First of all, I would like to say as well just how sorry I am and how sorry we are to particularly the victims of illegal voicemail interceptions and to their families.
首先，我想说，我感到多么抱歉，我们尤其对非法语音邮件拦截的受害者及其家人感到多么抱歉。
It's a mess. James kind of recedes a bit. Lachlan emerges from exile. And he... Right. Comes back at his father's side.
真是一团糟。詹姆斯有点退缩了。拉克兰结束了流亡。他回到了父亲身边。
But Lachlan is clearly in step with his father about some key things. They were simpatico on politics during the Trump years. Rupert said, this is my son. He is in my image. We share a lot of the same conservative politics. Let's do this.
但拉克兰显然在一些关键问题上与父亲步调一致。在特朗普执政期间，他们在政治上意见一致。鲁伯特说，这是我的儿子。他代表我。我们有很多相同的保守政治观点。让我们开始吧。
Now, is this a company that one would want to take over? It's been a rough couple of years for the media conglomerate.
现在，这家公司是人们想要接管的吗？对于这家媒体集团来说，这几年过得很艰难。
I mean, there are a lot of people who look at the media and run fleeing in the other direction. Fox News - it is one of the most profitable properties in cable TV.
很多人看着媒体，然后朝另一个方向逃跑。福克斯新闻是有线电视中最赚钱的资产之一。
Even at a time of cord-cutting, it remains a resilient thing because its audience is large and its audience is passionate. News Corp - interesting - is fueled by the successes of the Wall Street Journal. Right.
即使在有线电视用户大量退订的时代，它仍然是一个有弹性的节目，因为它的观众很大，而且观众很热情。新闻集团——有趣的是——受到《华尔街日报》成功的推动。
So, you know, newspapers are limping along around the world. But News Corp - I looked this up the other day - has really risen on the backs of the success of the paywall for the Wall Street Journal and its properties.
报纸在世界各地都举步维艰。但新闻集团——我前几天查过这个——真正崛起是因为《华尔街日报》及其资产的付费墙成功。
James Murdoch argues, look, if you look at the way Rupert and Lachlan have run that company, their embrace of Trump and his lies about the 2020 election
詹姆斯·默多克认为，如果你看看鲁伯特和拉克兰经营这家公司的方式，他们对特朗普及其关于2020年大选的谎言的拥护，
led them to have to pay nearly $800 million settlement over defamation of a voting machine company and also, James would argue, hasn't helped Fox prepare for a future.
导致他们不得不支付近8亿美元的和解金，以弥补对一家投票机公司的诽谤，而且詹姆斯认为，这并没有帮助福克斯为未来做好准备。
It's basically desperately holding on as tight as it can to an ever-aging audience. And at some point, that audience will age out, and the people left aren't going to be subscribing to cable anymore.
它基本上是在拼命地尽可能地抓住不断老化的观众。在某个时候，这些观众会老去，剩下的人将不再订阅有线电视。
Now, going back to the court case, what is the court really deciding here? Doesn't Murdoch have the right to decide who inherits his empire?
现在，回到法庭案件，法庭在这里裁决的究竟是什么？默多克难道没有权利决定谁继承他的帝国吗？
What the probate official said in Nevada was, you have the right to do this, Rupert Murdoch, but you have to convince me it is clearly in the financial best interest of all the beneficiaries.
内华达州的遗嘱认证官员说，鲁伯特·默多克，你有权这样做，但你必须让我相信，这显然符合所有受益人的经济利益。
And so there are the three other adult children beyond Lachlan. And also there are two other children that he had with Wendi Deng, two daughters.
除了拉克兰，还有另外三个成年子女。此外，还有他和邓文迪所生的两个女儿。
So they would have to say Lachlan and Rupert clearly have a singular and best vision. Could Murdoch simply pay out the other three children?
所以他们不得不说，拉克兰和鲁伯特显然有着独特而美好的愿景。默多克能简单地支付其他三个孩子的钱吗？
Such a good question. Over the years, he has paid out to soothe ruffled feathers, hurt feelings, to paper over family disputes.
这个问题问得好。多年来，他一直支付这笔钱来平息愤怒、伤害感情，掩盖家庭纠纷。
Problem for Lachlan is that Lachlan doesn't have the cash to buy them out. I'm told that there was some effort a couple of years ago to look into this, and he found it very difficult to raise money to do it.
拉克兰的问题是，他没有钱买下他们的股份。我听说几年前有人试图调查此事，但他发现很难筹集到资金来做这件事。
And so back to business, what are the implications for News Corp and the conglomerate's other media assets if Lachlan's three eldest siblings took control instead of him in the U.S. and elsewhere?
回到正题上，如果拉克兰的三个弟弟代替他在美国和其他地方掌权，这对新闻集团和该集团的其他媒体资产有何影响？
Well, I think the most interesting and visceral one is the direction of Fox News. James Murdoch has made it clear that he thinks Fox is going off the rails, embracing conspiracy theories, pushing out things detrimental to the workings of democracy itself.
我认为最有趣和最直观的一点是福克斯新闻的发展方向。詹姆斯·默多克明确表示，他认为福克斯正在偏离轨道，接受阴谋论，推出不利于民主运作的东西。
He doesn't want MSNBC, but he wants something that he thinks would be more like Sky in the U.K. - more down the middle, more fact-focused.
他不想要MSNBC，但他想要一个更像英国天空电视台的东西——更中庸，更注重事实。
So huge implications for the family and also for the wider media democratic landscape.
这对这个家族以及更广泛的媒体民主格局都有重大影响。
Oh, I think that's right. I mean, this is, you know, unquestionably the most influential and most important media conglomerate in the English-speaking world.
哦，我想是的。这无疑是英语世界最具影响力和最重要的媒体集团。
And I think as it goes, so does a lot of our political discourse, and so goes a lot of framing of our understanding of the world around us.
我认为，随着时间的流逝，我们的许多政治讨论也随之改变，我们对周围世界的理解也随之改变。
David Folkenflik, thank you so much for joining us. You bet.
David Folkenflik，非常感谢您加入我们。当然了。
