Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch was so “livid” that one of the newspapers he owns published a piece that described former CNN reporter Oliver Darcy’s newsletter as a “must-read” that he called up the editor-in-chief and “berated” her over it, media startup Breaker reported.
According to Breaker, which was recently launched by former Daily Beast editor-at-large Lachlan Cartwright and New York Times correspondent Ravi Somaiya, Murdoch rang up Wall Street Journal top editor Emma Tucker over media reporter Isabella Simonetti’s recent piece about Darcy’s new Status News site.
Representatives for the Wall Street Journal and Murdoch did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Featuring an interview with Darcy, who announced that he had brought over his former Reliable Sources editor Jon Passantino from CNN, Simonetti’s article touted the quick success that Darcy has enjoyed since starting Status last August.
“Darcy’s newsletter, Status, which launched in August, is fueled by juicy tidbits about media deals, newsroom spats and executive moves. He was first to report that then-New York Magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi had a romantic relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and that ABC News was going to re-sign anchor George Stephanopoulos last fall,” she wrote.
“Status has accumulated more than 70,000 total subscribers since August and is on track to surpass $1 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2025,” Simonetti added.
At the same time, Darcy has been a vocal and unapologetic critic of Fox News, the right-wing cable giant that Murdoch created and owns. Besides relentlessly describing the channel as pro-Trump “propaganda” for years now, Darcy has used Status to ramp up his aggressive reporting and coverage of the top-rated cable network.
For instance, Darcy noted last month that Brendan Carr, President Donald Trump’s handpicked FCC commissioner, has “been on a tear” threatening media outlets and news broadcasters with investigations. At the same time, Darcy pointed out, “Carr has curiously spared” Murdoch’s Fox Corporation amid the “sweeping FCC crackdown.” The former CNN media reporter also spoke with Preston Padden, a one-time Murdoch executive who has led an effort to have the FCC revoke Fox’s broadcasting licenses over Dominion Voting System’s defamation lawsuit, a case that Carr has so far ignored.
“I watched Trump signing executive orders in the Oval Office. And you know who was standing right there with him? Rupert!” Padden told Darcy. “So what are my chances of getting Trump’s FCC to take our petition seriously? Zero.”
It is likely this ongoing criticism of Fox, along with some pointed shots by Darcy at the Journal itself, that prompted Murdoch to personally rage at Tucker over Simonetti’s report.
“One Journal reader was absolutely ‘livid’ about the piece and made their complaints vehemently known to Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker,” Breaker wrote. “Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Journal, called Tucker and berated her about the article, a person with knowledge of the matter tells us.”
Following Breaker’s story, Darcy used his own newsletter to take the opportunity to give a “heartfelt thanks” to the 94-year-old media baron for “reading” Status, adding that the site’s “inbox is open” if he wanted to give any other feedback.
“Subscribe to the newsletter that apparently triggers Rupert Murdoch,” Darcy snarkily posted on social media.
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