News Corp - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

News Corp is Medium Risk.

News Corp is Medium Risk. The company often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. News Corp occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	High Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Medium Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

News Corp integrates ESG into its business practices. In 2022, the “Compensation Committee expanded consideration of ESG objectives in the executive officers’ incentive compensation to include additional ESG goals” (1). News Corp promotes divisive sex and gender policies. Its Standards of Business Conduct requires international vendors to include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policy (2)(3). However, News Corp has not canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (4).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

News Corp’s charitable giving focus areas are Education, Journalism, Veterans, and Sustainability (1). The company likely uses Benevity as its charitable giving platform. Benevity vets charities according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate List, which includes mainstream libertarian, conservative, family, and religious advocacy organizations (2)(3)(4).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

News Corp requires its employees to take diversity and bias training. News Corp offers health benefits for LGBTQ employees (1). News Corp appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its recruitment. From its 2023 ESG report: “Our efforts to recruit, develop and retain women and underrepresented minorities are an important part of our strategy” (2). News Corp does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

News Corp supports DEI within its business practices, employing a Diversity Council in 2024. News Corp offers DEI workshops to its UK and Australia employees (1). News Corp is committed to reduce scope 1 and 2 net carbon emissions by 95% from 2016 baseline by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 (2)(3)(4).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

News Corp funds organizations with DEI and LGBTQ goals (1). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of News Corp using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (2).

Criteria:

Uses corporate political actions and/or financial contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

News Corp has not used its PAC donations or lobbying for ideological purposes (1)(2)(3). From its Political Actions Policy: “The News Corporation PAC is a non-partisan political action committee. Its focus is helping to elect quality men and women, regardless of political party (4)(5).