Murdoch media flips switch on climate

News Corp Australia, an influential player in Australia’s decade-long climate wars, will end its long-standing editorial hostility towards carbon reduction policies and will advocate for the world’s leading economies to hit net zero emissions by 2050.

The owner of some of the nation’s most-read newspapers, including the Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, The Australian , and 24-hour news channel Sky News Australia will from mid-October begin a company-wide campaign promoting the benefits of a carbon-neutral economy as the world’s leaders prepare for a critical climate summit in Glasgow this year.

Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire has faced growing international condemnation and pressure from advertisers over its editorial stance on climate change, which has long cast doubt over the science behind global warming and has since 2007 attacked various federal government efforts to reduce emissions. News Corp’s coverage of Australia’s deadly bushfires almost two years ago attracted international criticism in publications such as The New York Times and Financial Times. This led Murdoch’s youngest son, James Murdoch, to publicly denounce the Murdoch outlets’ ‘‘ongoing denial’’ of climate change. Mr Murdoch quit the News Corp board last August, citing concerns about its editorial stance.

From October 17, the company will run a two-week campaign that will advocate for a carbon net zero target to be reached by 2050, and which is expected to focus heavily on jobs in a decarbonised economy, particularly blue-collar industries such as mining and agriculture.

The campaign, according to sources familiar with the plans who spoke anonymously because they are confidential, will be fronted by news.com.au columnist and former Studio 10 host Joe Hildebrand.

The campaign will not appear in the , The Australian, they said, but the newspaper will continue to temper its editorial stance on the issue.

A plan has been devised to limit – but not muzzle – dissenting voices among News Corp’s stable of conservative commentators.

A spokesman for News Corp Australia declined to comment yesterday. The timing of News Corp’s campaign, which is expected to include a 16-page spread, coincides with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November.

The switch in editorial position will likely attract global attention, particularly in America where media outlets such as Fox News have been accused by Republican politicians of undermining global efforts on climate change.

Mr Murdoch, now 90, also remains an influential figure in British politics, mainly through his newspapers The Sun and The Times. But his elder son, Lachlan Murdoch, coexecutive chairman of News Corp, is more involved in the newspaper business than is his father.

The British government and US President Joe Biden’s administration have made direct pleas to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in recent weeks to commit to a net zero target by 2050 and consider increasing its 2030 target of reducing emissions by 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels.

Senior government sources with knowledge of internal negotiations between Mr Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, whose ascension as Nationals leader in June threatened to derail plans, are yet to reach an outcome, but both parties remain hopeful they will get what they want. Sources say increasing the 2030 target also remains an option.

Mr Morrison has subtly shifted his rhetoric on emissions reductions since his shock May 2019 victory, with the government now on the verge of adopting the once highly contentious target. Mr Joyce has been clear that he will not commit to greater targets of the 2050 deadline unless there is some form of protection or compensation for industries based in regional Australia.

The Morrison government has been privately briefed on News Corp plans by management, but both parties say there has been no collusion on the campaign.

Newspapers in the News Corp stable have for years taken aim at policies that reduce carbon emissions, and have been widely viewed in political circles as contributors in the downfall of prime ministers Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull. However, sources in the organisation say the business is also feeling pressure from its major advertisers and its efforts to attract a greater subscriber base.

Increasingly, leading corporations such as Woolworths, Macquarie Group and Telstra are pushing their green credentials. Even some mining companies have backed in net zero by 2050.

News Corp’s own global environmental targets now include reducing its fuel and electricity emissions 60 per cent by 2030 on a 2016 base year, reduced supply chain carbon emissions 20 per cent by 2030 and hit net zero by 2050.

People familiar with the company’s inner workings deny any editorial shift was designed to support or give cover to a particular political leader or to convince the public to change their mind.

An exclusive survey, conducted for The Age by research company Resolve Strategic in June, found the majority of Australians want the federal government to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The organisation’s climate coverage has also been a sensitive topic within its own ranks, with former commercial finance manager Emily Townsend firing off an all-staff email after her resignation last year, accusing the organisation of a misinformation campaign filled with ‘‘irresponsible’’ and ‘‘dangerous’’ coverage of the bushfire crisis.

News Corp Australia’s executive chairman, Michael Miller said at the time he understood Townsend’s concerns. ‘‘News Corp does not deny climate change or the gravity of its threat,’’ he said. ‘‘However, we – as is the traditional role of a publisher – do report a variety of views and opinions on this issue.’’