James Murdoch criticizes ‘media owners’ who ‘unleashed’ insidious forces with election denial claims

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Murdoch did not explicitly mention Fox News, which is controlled by his father and brother Lachlan Murdoch. But it was clear that while he had other outlets in mind as well, he was focusing on the right-wing cable network when he made the comments in a Financial Times interview published on Friday. Since the election was called for Joe Biden, some Fox News figures have amplified President Trump’s false allegations of electoral fraud and sowed mistrust in the voting system.

“The damage is deep,” Murdoch said, referring to the election disinformation that has circulated in the United States. “The sacking from Capitol Hill is positive proof that what we thought was dangerous indeed very, very good. These media that spread lies to their audiences have unleashed insidious and uncontrollable forces that will stay with us for years to come.”

“I hope people who didn’t think it was so dangerous now understand it and stop,” Murdoch added.

Following this interview, he released a joint statement to the Financial Times with his wife, Kathryn Murdoch.

“The spread of disinformation – whether it’s about elections, public health or climate change – has real consequences,” the two said. “Many media owners have as much of a responsibility in this regard as elected officials who know the truth but instead choose to spread lies. ‘they promoted once and forever. “

A Murdoch spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Young Murdoch made a dramatic break with his family in August 2020, resigning from the board of News Corp, his family’s publishing empire. Murdoch said at the time that he was leaving the company because of “disagreements over certain editorial content published” by his news organizations and “certain other strategic decisions.”

It wouldn’t be the first time that James Murdoch has spoken publicly about the coverage provided by news outlets of his father’s media empire. A spokesperson for James and his wife Kathryn told The Daily Beast the couple were frustrated “by some of the News Corp and Fox coverage” on climate change as wildfires ravaged Australia l ‘last year. In an interview with The New Yorker in 2019, he said, “There are views that I really disagree with on Fox.”

Murdoch has shown further signs of contradiction with the conservative political views of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch. He previously donated to Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and railed against climate change denial.

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