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London: Lachlan Murdoch, the new chairman of News Corp, has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv in a sign his global media empire will continue to throw its weight behind the war-torn nation’s struggle against Russia.
The president’s office said the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who officially took control of the company last week, travelled to Ukraine at the weekend alongside Fox News journalist Benjamin Hall and The Sun’s Jerome Starkey.
News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch (centre) in Kyiv alongside injured Fox News journalist Ben Hall (left).
Hall, who in early 2022 was severely injured while he reported from Ukraine, also met with service members who assisted in his evacuation. Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian fixer Oleksandra Kuvshynova were killed while Hall lost both feet, a leg and an eye.
The younger Murdoch, whose father described him last week as “a believer in the social purpose of journalism”, was in March reported to have previously spoken with Zelensky and other Ukrainian government officials via Zoom.
The Ukrainian president said Murdoch’s visit sent “very important signal” at a time when some international media attention is shifting away from the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch for travelling to KyivCredit: Office of the Ukrainian President
Almost 21 months since Vladimir Putin’s invasion, which increasingly appears to be locked in bloody stalemate, Ukrainians fear loss of support in the West as the global gaze shifts to the Israel-Hamas war.
“For some reason, people treat it like a movie and expect that there will be no long pauses in the events, that the picture before their eyes will always change, that there will be some surprises every day,” Zelensky said in a statement.
“But for us, for our warriors, this is not a movie. These are our lives. This is daily hard work. And it will not be over as quickly as we would like, but we have no right to give up and we will not.”
The visit of Murdoch, a leading figure in media because of his massive US Republican-leaning audience, comes ahead of a US presidential election next November could bring the return of Donald Trump, who has been sharply critical of support for Ukraine while there is increasing division over aid for Kyiv in the Congress.
Before — and occasionally after — the start of the full-scale invasion Fox News coverage of Ukraine was controversial, with former star host Tucker Carlson openly spreading pro-Russian propaganda on his show until he was fired in April 2023.
But in a statement Zelensky thanked Fox News for its fair news coverage of Russian atrocities despite the security risks and awarded Hall the Order of Merit for his contribution to supporting Ukraine’s “independence and territorial integrity”.
News Corp is also the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, whose reporter Evan Gershkovich has been imprisoned in Russia for the past eight months on disputed espionage charges.
Zelensky noted the important role of the world media in consolidating international support for Ukraine and expressed condolences to all those whose relatives and friends were taken by the war.
“All this time, journalists, cameramen, editors, photographers, drivers have been on the frontline,” he said. “As this is a hybrid war, information is also a weapon in Russian hands… it is thanks to journalists from many countries that we now have such support in the world.”
News Corp boss Lachlan Murdoch with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Fox News journalist Benjamin Hall, far left, and Sun reporter Jerome Starkey, far right.
Earlier this month Murdoch last week warned about a “surge of antisemitism” both abroad and in Australia following last month’s terror attack on Israel.
News Corp also owns Australian mastheads including The Australian, Melbourne’s Herald Sun and Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
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