What Was in Rupert Murdoch's Report?

On 21 August 2026 a Nevada court unsealed 96 pages from case PR23-00813. They set out what happened when Rupert Murdoch, at ninety-two, tried to rewrite a family trust he had signed in 1999 and could not revoke: eight votes, four of them his, one each for Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. He wanted Lachlan's control made permanent. The other three said no. The probate commissioner found out why the father had turned, and the family paid $3.3 billion so that it would not have to be tested. This is a trust named after a farm outside Melbourne, a newspaper in Adelaide, a Commons committee room in 2011, a plan the family called Project Family Harmony, and a closed hearing in Reno. Built from the recommendation of Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr., the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee report of 2012, company filings with the SEC, the Australian Dictionary of Biography, the biographies by William Shawcross, Michael Wolff and Paddy Manning, and the reporting of The New York Times, ABC News Australia, the BBC and The Guardian. Where the family disagrees, the film says who says what. Told in 13 parts across about 42 minutes, from contemporary photographs, official records and first-hand accounts. Every claim in the narration is sourced; where the record is contested, the film says so rather than choosing the better story. Chapters 0:00 Cold open: case PR23-00813 2:29 1952–1960: Cruden Farm to Adelaide 5:51 1960–1967: Sydney, Canberra, Washington 9:19 1968–1985: London and New York 12:50 1986–2007: Fox and the Journal 16:40 1999: the Murdoch Family Trust 20:45 2000–2010: Shine, Star, Sky 24:44 2011–2012: phone hacking 27:20 2013–2023: Disney, and a letter 30:50 2023: the troublesome beneficiary 34:20 September 2024: the closed hearing 37:50 7 December 2024: the Gorman ruling 41:30 2025–2026: the settlement and the birthday Attribution Archive material in this film comes from Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive. 23 images in this film are public domain or CC0 and carry no attribution condition. CC BY 2.0 - Canadian Film Centre from Toronto, Canada; Clemens v. Vogelsang from Liechtenstein; David Shane from United States of America; David Shankbone from USA; Eden, Janine and Jim from New York City; Esther Dyson from New York, US; Fred Romero from Paris, France; Ged Carroll from Hong Kong mostly, HKSAR; Hudson Institute; Michael Albov (mikegoat); Oxfam America from Boston, USA; Piers Allardyce; derivative work: Wildhartlivie ( talk ) Jerry Hall 1.jpg : P; mikegoat CC BY 3.0 - David Shankbone CC BY-SA 2.0 - Archives New Zealand from New Zealand; Christine Matthews; Eva Rinaldi; Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA; Monika Flueckiger; Monika Flueckiger, World Economic Forum; Steve Cadman; World Economic Forum; worldeconomicforum at https://www.flickr.com . CC BY-SA 3.0 - Downtowngal; No machine-readable author provided. Roke~commonswiki assume CC BY-SA 4.0 - Dietmar Rabich; Edwardx; Laerol; Nick-D; No Swan So Fine; NouvelleAuteur; VirtuallyLondonBecky Every image is listed individually, with its source URL and licence, in the film's own credits file. Clips used: AP Archive -    • Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his fam...   Sky News Australia via News24 -    • Lachlan Murdoch secures control of News Co...   Disclosure This film is narrated with a synthetic (text-to-speech) voice. Every photograph in it is a real archive image - none were generated - and each one is credited above and listed individually in the film's credits file.