Here's Why James Murdoch Left News Corp Board

James Murdoch

James Murdoch quit the board of News Corp because of disagreements over how decisions were made, arguing that great news organisations should “not sow doubt, to obscure fact”.

In an interview with the New York Times, 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.

In July he said 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.”

Yahoo! News reports 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 Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn, have in the past expressed frustration over News Corp titles’s coverage of the Trump administration and climate change.