Rupert Murdoch's News Corp vows transparency for future GOP donations

Beginning this summer, the News Corporation, the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, will announce each year all the political contributions it has made.

The move comes after the company was highlighted for donating $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ahead of the midterm elections last year.

Critics of the company seized on the donations — which were made public only in news reports — as evidence of bias on the part of the News Corporation, which owns the Fox News Channel and The Wall Street Journal, and Mr. Murdoch, who has long been a supporter of conservative causes.

Apparently, News Corp shareholders were less than pleased to learn of the campaign contributions, not from officials at an annual meeting, but through the media. Since it was shareholder money going to Republicans, and not just Murdoch writing a check from his bank account, the company’s board of directors agreed to disclose future political donations.