Climate Activist James Murdoch Steps Down From News Corp

James Murdoch has announced he is stepping down from the board of News Corp, citing editorial differences over the content published by its media platforms, which include The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and News UK.

‘My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions,’ he said in a statement on Friday.

James, 47, the younger son of Australian-born media mogul and News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch, had been on the board of directors since 2013.

He did not go into detail about his differences with the media company however, James, who is the more liberal member of the Murdoch family, has been publicly critical of its news platforms in the past. …

James has spoken out against his father’s company on a number of occasions, with him and his wife Kathryn slamming the family business for promoting climate change ‘denials’ during the Australian bushfire crisis in January.

The pair released a statement saying they were ‘disappointed’ by the coverage of the fires by Fox News and other News Corp outlets.

‘Kathryn and James’s views on climate are well established and their frustration with some of the News Corp and Fox coverage of the topic is also well known.

‘They are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary,’ their statement read.

The ‘denials’ were about allegations arsonists and not climate change was to blame for the destructive wildfires.

His comments were perceived as ‘unprecedented’ and sparked speculation of a feud within the family since he rarely speaks publicly about his role in the business. …

He found himself out of work when Fox merged with Disney early last year, but also $2billion richer thanks to his shares in the company.

This seems to have caused some friction between father and son and when asked if he had recently spoken to his former boss, James said:  ‘There are periods of time when we do not.’

He was similarly laconic when asked if he had ever watched Succession, the HBO show that is loosely based on his family’s empire. ‘Not even a peek. Why would I?’ asked Murdoch.

He did note things were great post-Fox, saying: ‘I just feel very lucky to have the opportunity at this point to make a clean break, and literally have an empty slate.

James is known as the more liberal Murdoch brother, while older brother Lachlan’s views seem to be more aligned with those of his conservative father.

Read more at Daily Mail