From next month, News Corp Australia will end its long-standing editorial hostility towards carbon reduction policies and advocate that the world’s leading economies hit net zero emissions by 2050.
The Age’s Zoe Samios has written that columnists will not be muzzled but some will be expected to reframe their political arguments, though Sky News Australia boss Paul Whittaker said he was not aware of any plan to limit the views of dissenting conservative commentators.
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News Corp’s shift, if it sticks, could pave the way for both main
political parties to support a more aggressive approach to
reducing carbon emissions. Credit: Jonathan Carroll
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Somehow justified by a commitment to a “diversity of opinions”, News Corp has supported, encouraged and amplified views that have repeatedly stymied any attempts by governments in Canberra to implement tough measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It has brought fringe opinion in and pumped it into the political mainstream and has ridiculed and taunted those, including in politics, who want stronger action.
The rationale for the change is a well-kept secret, but News Corp insiders have indicated that pressure from advertisers may have played a part. That theory played out this week, with the shift being welcomed by one of Australia’s largest advertisers, Coles, which has moved to position itself as the nation’s most sustainable supermarket.
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Please Explain What's behind News Corp's new stance on climate science? 13m32s |
Coles is not alone. The Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and company boardrooms around the country, including those in the mining industry, have taken up the cause of climate change mitigation.
They support the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and transitioning to net zero emissions by 2050. They have also supported the need for a market-based carbon price to drive investment in low and no-emissions technology.
And yet the outsized influence of News Corp in Australia on public discourse – and perhaps more importantly on the right-wing rump of the Coalition – still puts the handbrake on reform.
Despite growing pressure from other like-minded Western nations, led by Britain and America, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has for months been slow-walking towards a net zero emissions target by 2050 and has failed to embrace the tougher action by 2030 the world is demanding.
No doubt Mr Morrison’s approach factors in the backlash from within his own government, a faction led these days by Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and undergirded by News Corp’s commentators.
News Corp’s shift could very well be interpreted as a cynical exercise in protecting the bottom line, but if it sticks, it could pave the way for both main political parties to support a more aggressive approach to reducing carbon emissions.
For The Age, which has long advocated a faster climate-policy shift, it would be a welcome, though belated, change.
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Media & marketing 
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‘Brand responsibility’: Major advertiser backs News Corp climate
shift
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As the COVID pandemic has shown, listening to the science can save many millions of lives. While there has been no shortage of fringe voices spreading coronavirus misinformation, they have largely been ignored and sidelined by the mainstream media.
It’s to the enduring shame of News Corp that, on climate change, those voices were instead welcomed in.
Links
- News Corp Hasn’t Seen The Light On Climate – They’re Just Updating Their Tactics
- (AU Crikey) News Corp’s Net Zero By 2050 Push Is What Climate Change Denial Looks Like In 2021
- Climate Denialism, ‘Doom Porn’, Deflection And The New Climate War
- Former Australian PMs Put Murdoch In The Hot Seat On Climate Change
- ‘Brand responsibility’: Major advertiser backs News Corp climate shift
- News Corp's net zero by 2050 push is climate change denial in 2021
- Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, 24-hour news channel to champion net zero emissions
- (SMH Editorial) News Corp’s climate change shift is welcome
- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Australia to Ease Climate Change Denial
- Australians fed up with News Corp’s climate scepticism
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