Rupert Murdoch wants to preserve Fox News’ conservative leaning. A judge intervened.

A probate commissioner has ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s effort to change his family’s trust to give one of his sons control of his media empire and ensure Fox News maintains its conservative editorial slant, according to a sealed document obtained by The New York Times.

In a decision filed on Dec. 7, a probate commissioner in Nevada concluded that Mr. Murdoch and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, had acted in “bad faith” in their endeavor to amend the irrevocable trust, The New York Times reported on Dec. 9.

The trust divides control of the company equally among four of Rupert Murdoch’s children – Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James – after he dies. Lachlan Murdoch has been the head of Fox News and News Corp since late last year, when his father stepped down.

The elder Mr. Murdoch has argued that to preserve his businesses’ commercial value for all his heirs, the trust must be changed to allow Lachlan Murdoch to maintain Fox News’ conservative bent. James and Elisabeth Murdoch are both known to have less-conservative political views than their father or brother, potentially complicating efforts to ensure that Fox News remains conservative.

Besides Fox News, the elder Mr. Murdoch started the Fox broadcast network, the first to successfully challenge the Big Three of ABC, CBS, and NBC, with shows like “The Simpsons.” He is owner of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

He slimmed down his corporate holdings with the 2019 sale of many entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Co. These included film production, rights to certain Marvel comics, National Geographic, and the cable network FX.

Fox News Channel has profoundly influenced television and the nation’s politics since its start in 1996, making the elder Mr. Murdoch a hero to some and pariah to others. The 24-hour network converted the power and energy of political talk radio to television. Within six years, it outrated CNN and MSNBC.

In his 96-page opinion this week, Nevada Probate Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. of the Second Judicial District Court characterized the plan to change the trust as a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the family trust.

Adam Streisand, a lawyer for Rupert Murdoch, told the newspaper that his client and his client’s son were disappointed with the ruling and intended to appeal.

A spokesperson for Prudence, Elisabeth, and James Murdoch said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that they welcome the ruling and hope that their family can “move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships among all family members.”

Mr. Gorman in his conclusion said: “The effort was an attempt to stack the deck in Lachlan Murdoch’s favor after Rupert Murdoch’s passing so that his succession would be immutable. The play might have worked; but an evidentiary hearing, like a showdown in a game of poker, is where gamesmanship collides with the facts and at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up.”

He added: “The court, after considering the facts of this case in the light of the law, sees the cards for what they are and concludes this raw deal will not, over the signature of this probate commissioner, prevail.”

This story was reported by The Associated Press and includes prior reporting by AP writer David Bauder.