James Murdoch’s Principled Stand Against Right-Wing Partisanship Finds Limit In Close Friend Elon Musk: Report

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James Murdoch, once hailed for his principled stand against Fox News and his substantial investment in non-partisan journalism, is now under scrutiny for his silence on the extreme views of his close friend Elon Musk — whose platform, X has become a megaphone for far-right rhetoric.

Murdoch’s moral stance on Fox News, the outlet owned by his media mogul father, billionaire News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch, led to his 2020 resignation from the company’s board due to “disagreements over certain editorial content.”

At the time he left Fox News, Murdoch said he had “pulled the ripcord” on Fox News and warned news organizations that “a contest of ideas shouldn’t be used to legitimize disinformation.”

He added: “The mission really should be to introduce fact to disperse doubt – not to sow doubt to obscure fact, if you will.”

Yet journalist Claire Atkinson, host of The Media Mix podcast, reported on Monday that Murdoch has remained quiet on Musk’s lurch to the right, even as he hosted an interview with former President Donald Trump.

Musk’s softball conversation with Trump saw him teeing up topics often covered by Trump at campaign rallies. Musk also offered Trump the opportunity to attack Democratic rival Kamala Harris and repeat false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that his legal trouble was a “conspiracy” by the Biden administration against him.

Added to this, Murdoch’s feelings on Trump were laid out in a private 2017 rebuke over the former president’s response to the violence in Charlottesville, declaring: “There are no good Nazis.”

Murdoch’s ties to Musk, however, are deep and personal. In her article, Atkinson detailed that Murdoch serves as an independent director on Tesla’s board and vacationing with Musk’s family.

While Murdoch has invested in nonpartisan journalism and civic initiatives through his Quadrivium foundation since his Fox News departure, his friend Musk, who boasts the largest account on X with 193.8 million followers, has been accused of amplifying misinformation, with misleading election claims alone reportedly garnering 1.2 billion views The Washington Post, Atkinson added, went so far as to call Musk a “far-right firebrand” over his increasingly political content.

Yet now, as Musk’s controversial political views now dominate his presence on X and he openly flirts with endorsing Trump, Murdoch’s once outspoken crusade against right-wing partisanship and disinformation, Atkinson concluded, seems to have found a limit.

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