James Murdoch Rips News Corp, Fox For Climate Change Coverage

The younger son and daughter-in-law of News Corp executive chairman and Fox Corporation co-chairman Rupert Murdoch have taken aim at both organizations' coverage of climate change, widely viewed as a contributing factor to the Australian bushfires, in a statement to US-based news outlet The Daily Beast.

James Murdoch

"Kathryn and James' views on climate are well established and their frustration with some of News Corp and Fox's coverage of the topic is also well known," a spokesperson for the couple told The Daily Beast, and later confirmed the statement's accuracy to Reuters.

"They are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial of the role of climate change among the news outlets in Australia, given obvious evidence to the contrary."

Bushfires have raged in Australia since September, claiming the lives of 28 people, destroying more than 2,500 homes and wiping out bush and farmland the size of Bulgaria.

ABC-Australia reports critics of News Corp, the largest media company in Australia, said it had participated in the spread of misinformation about the fires and has downplayed the impact of climate change on them.

James Murdoch sits on News Corp's board and is chief executive of private investment company Lupa Systems.

His older brother Lachlan is co-chairman of News Corp and chief executive of Fox Corporation.

Kathryn Murdoch has, in the past months, become more vocal about her decade-plus work as a climate activist.

A News Corp spokesman declined to comment on James and Kathryn Murdoch's statement to The Daily Beast.