As we noted last time, James Murdoch has long presented himself as a different kind of Murdoch, at least compared to his father Rupert, who owns things like the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News. James is ostensibly significantly more liberal than the rest of his family; in 2017, he broke with his family over the issue of Bill O’Reilly, and, in 2020, over their denial of climate change. He’s since shown interest in cultural markers like the Tribeca Film Festival and Art Basel. James and his wife Kathryn have also backed news startups like The Bulwark, which “was founded to provide analysis and reporting in defense of America’s liberal democracy” and “to build a home for the politically homeless,” according to the site’s masthead.
Murdoch was clear in an interview with the Times that he didn’t want to turn Vox or New York into the kind of “daily news” business that made his father a very rich man but rather to invest in “longer-form, thoughtful journalism that can really speak to the culture,” saying, “We want to create platforms where really amazing, talented people can come and do the best work of their lives.” Still, he said he’s not deliberately trying to separate himself from his father but to “just trying to build a great business.” For the sake of all the journalists working in an industry that gets more precarious by the day, we hope for the best.
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