James Murdoch Condemns News Media

James Murdoch has condemned the US media for “propagating lies” which have unleashed “insidious and uncontrollable forces” that will endure for years, reports The Guardian.

Questioned about whether Fox News – founded by his father Rupert Murdoch and run by his brother Lachlan – had played a role in the riot at the Capitol last week, he said media groups had amplified election disinformation, which successfully sowed falsehoods.

Providing his sternest reproach yet of the US news industry since stepping away from the family business, Murdoch stopped short of naming Fox News but the comments will be seen as a thinly veiled rebuke.

James Murdoch

“The damage is profound,” he told the Financial Times in an interview. “The sacking of the Capitol is proof positive that what we thought was dangerous is indeed very much so. Those outlets that propagate lies to their audience have unleashed insidious and uncontrollable forces that will be with us for years.

“I hope that those people who didn’t think it was that dangerous now understand, and that they stop.”

He added that the media would inevitably face “a reckoning” after being “co-opted by forces that only want to stay in power, or are manipulating our discourse from abroad and are only too happy to make a mess and burn things down.”

In a subsequent statement issued jointly with his wife, Kathryn, they added: “Spreading disinformation – whether about the election, public health or climate change – has real world consequences. Many media property owners have as much responsibility as the elected officials who know the truth but instead choose to propagate lies.

“We hope the awful scenes we have all been seeing will finally convince those enablers to repudiate the toxic politics they have promoted once and forever.”

Murdoch resigned from the board of News Corp. last July due to “disagreements” over “certain editorial content,” according to a letter he sent to the board. He has spoken out at length in the past about Fox News’ coverage of the climate crisis and, contrary to the pro-Trump agenda of the network, he has called the president’s leadership “craziness,” “callousness” and “cruelty.”