DO not read this piece if you plan to watch the TV series Succession which aired its final episode last month and has been the subject of much talk among arts critics and social media users. A lot of that talk on Twitter centres on what will TV be like without Succession because everything about it was so good — the writing and performances were truly outstanding.

The premise of the show seems simple: three children compete to inherit their father, Logan Roy’s media company Waystar Co; meanwhile the father toys with each child, letting them think they will inherit the earth even though he thinks they’re all incompetent. Pretty much everyone on the show is varying degrees of self-absorbed, entitled and/or ruthless.

Given my interest in the media, I felt the show proved a prescient warning to media companies trying to become the next big thing. Companies like Vice and Buzzfeed which launched big but weren’t able to bring in the revenue and ultimately shut shop — as happened to a fictional company in Succession early on in the series. Even in fiction, digital outlets have it tough and come off as ill-thought-out be it business models, or content like the Roy children’s idea for The Hundred which one Roy son described as “Substack meets Masterclass meets the Economist meets the New Yorker”. Even the rich struggle to come up with original ideas but it doesn’t stop them from trying to be the next big thing. As I write this, two women in New York, who launched a physical newspaper for Gen Z in 2020 and shut it down in November last year, have launched a website called Byline. It’s a strange hamster wheel on the media circuit.

World-over, the old guard struggles to keep up with the dizzying speed of advancements taking place in the communication industry. Coming out on top is all that matters. Succession gives us a small peek into what kind of lines media owners are willing to cross to stay relevant or to build and maintain relationships with business interests, politicians; to ensure they’re setting agendas across the news industry. It also tells us how rich these media owners are. Audiences may know the partisanship of channels in Pakistan but there’s little documented about their other business interests or the nature of their relations with political parties or non-state actors. What, for example, are some non-legacy media companies thinking as elections approach. Who will deliver fair and balanced reporting at a time of severe restrictions? What is the cost of all this to democratic process?

‘Succession’ shows how broken the media is, how no one really wins.

I bring up elections because of that episode in Succession in which the Roy sons make a call during presidential elections which has dangerous consequences. That the brothers know that their call favouring a demagogue candidate will have devastating impact on civil liberties is a reminder of what people are willing to do for power. That it happens in the echelons of media business not interested in basic principles of journalism is depressing. And frightening.

I can only hope news companies in the US, at least, have learned from the Fox vs Dominion case — wherein Fox aired claims about a ‘stolen’ election — and how Murdoch paid $787m to settle. There are consequences to airing lies. Let that be a reminder to friends posing as journalists in Pakistan choosing profit over the public’s right to information.

Succession is also about what the Roy children are willing to do to be chosen by their father to steer the company. They are not the usual dysfunctional siblings one comes across on TV; they are competitors vying for their father’s affection. While there’s no violence, the show is brutal. The father’s treatment of his children, and subordinates, is simply ruthless. Succession as a concept seems to have little to do with competence or business foresight but how subservient a person is willing to be.

Many critics have called Succession a satire on the media. I think it’s shown how broken the media is, how no one really wins. Ultimately the announcement of the successor is not a triumphant moment because the win is not earned, maybe not even deserved — if we value deserving from an ethical viewpoint. Did the victor prove competence or was their hard work about playing to the gallery? Did the children play fair in their dealings with each other? According to Jon Allsop in the Columbia Journalism Review, “fundamentally the characters are trying to use money and power to fill voids within themselves — consequences for the masses be damned”.

Succession shows us how the powerful do not fear the impact of their decisions in the newsroom, and care only for their interests, their profit. This should worry us all, in the real world.

The writer researches newsroom culture in Pakistan.

Twitter: @LedeingLady

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2023