News Corp. to Disclose Donations

The formerly withholding Murdoch empire is about to start shedding some light on its political dealings: Starting this summer, News Corporation will disclose all of its political contributions each year. The company was put in the spotlight last year after it donated $1.25 million to the Republican Governor’s Association and $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in advance of the midterm elections. Critics of the company said the donations were evidence of bias because News Corporation owns both Fox News Channel and The Wall Street Journal—both of which are often accused of having conservative agendas. After this incident, the media company’s board of directors revisited its disclosure policies, and on April 12 decided to publicly disclose corporate political contributions on its corporate website. The first statement will be published on July 15.