Media tycoon Murdoch’s son says he quit family business because it legitimises ‘disinformation’
In a recent interview James Murdoch expanded on the statement he gave when he left his father Rupert Murdoch’s company earlier this year
James Murdoch, son of American media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who quit the board of News Corp last July cited disagreements over decisions making in the organisation as his reason for leaving the organisation.
He argued that news organisations should "not sow doubt, to obscure fact", reports the Independent.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, James Murdoch expanded on the statement he gave when he left his father Rupert Murdoch's company earlier this year, expressing his discomfort with the toxicity of Fox News and other media outlets owned by the company.
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James Murdoch said in July that he was leaving "due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions".
Murdoch said: "I reached the conclusion that you can venerate a contest of ideas, if you will, and we all do, and that's important. But it shouldn't be in a way that hides agendas."
"A contest of ideas shouldn't be used to legitimise disinformation. And I think it's often taken advantage of. And I think at great news organisations, the mission really should be to introduce fact to disperse doubt — not to sow doubt, to obscure fact, if you will."
Murdoch explained that he felt increasingly uncomfortable with his position on the board and that it was "not that hard a decision to remove myself and have a kind of cleaner slate".
Both James Murdoch, and his older brother Lachlan, had shown contempt for Roger Ailes during his stewardship of Fox News, but he was unable to reshape the focus and direction of the network after Ailes's departure in 2016.
"I think there is only so much you can do if you are not an executive, you are on the board, you are quite removed from a lot of the day-to-day decisions, obviously," he said.
"And if you are uncomfortable with those decisions, you have to take stock of whether or not you want to be associated and can you change it or not. I decided that I could be much more effective outside."
News Corp is an American mass media and publishing company focusing on newspapers and publishing, formed in 2013 as a spin-off of the original News Corporation. The company, headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware, is owned and controlled by the Murdoch family.
