James Murdoch resigned from the board of News Corp., the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, on Friday due to “disagreements” over “certain editorial content,” according to a letter he sent to the board.
“I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the Board of Directors of News Corporation (the ‘Company’), effective as of the date hereof,” Murdoch wrote in the letter, which was disclosed in an SEC filing. “My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.”
It’s not immediately clear what editorial content Murdoch was referring to.
“We’re grateful to James for his many years of service to the company. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors,” Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp., and Lachlan Murdoch, the co-chairman of News Corp., said in a statement sent to TheWrap.
This isn’t the first time James Murdoch has spoken out about News Corp.’s editorial coverage. In January, as wildfires were raging across Australia, a spokesperson for James and his wife Kathryn told the Daily Beast that the couple’s “views on climate are well established and their frustration with some of the News Corp and Fox coverage of the topic is also well known.”
“They are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary,” the spokesperson said.
According to recent FEC filings, James and Kathryn Murdoch have also donated $615,000 each toward Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
News Corp. is controlled by the Murdoch family and is the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and HarperCollins. In 2013, News Corp. split into a separate publishing company and entertainment company, with the former keeping the News Corp. name and the latter being named 21st Century Fox. James Murdoch served as the CEO of 21st Century Fox until 2019, when Disney acquired most of the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox. 21st Century Fox was then rebranded as Fox Corporation and is the parent company of Fox News and the Fox Broadcasting Company; James’ brother Lachlan Murdoch is the chief executive of Fox Corp.
See a screenshot of Murdoch’s letter below:
