Rupert Murdoch says he is not a "climate denier."

Ninety three year-old Murdoch gives first major interview in a decade and outlines the future of the media business on the 60th anniversary of The Australian, a newspaper he created from scratch.

For anyone wondering how the 93-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch is faring since he stepped down from Fox and News Corp. last year, the answer is he’s still stirring it up. 

Last week he was brushing shoulders with Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos and Bob Iger at the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley event. This week, Sky News Australia will stream a major new interview, Murdoch’s first major sit down in a decade.

Rupert, now chairman emeritus of his two companies, shared his thoughts on everything from AI, the future of newspapers, climate change and his favorite and most hated politicians. 

When asked about his legacy, he said he hoped his work in the media would be continued: “Keep fighting for freedom of the press, freedom of expression for everybody, not just us. And that this will contribute, and be seen to contribute, to a better society.”

Snippets from the series of interviews have appeared on The Australian’s website and at Sky News Australia. The news channel’s CEO Paul Whittaker began conducting interviews with his boss in February. 

Whittaker asks Rupert his thoughts about Net Zero, the global commitment to reducing carbon emissions. “I’m not a climate denier,” Rupert responds. “I might be a skeptic of some of the things that are said. But you’re going to have blackouts…the cost of living with go up all over the world.” Surprisingly, he adds: “But there are things to do, abolish coal and have natural gas which is cheap and clean.” 

Back in 2020, son James Murdoch had shared a statement with the Daily Beast expressing his frustration with climate deniers promoted in Murdoch outlets during the wild fires in Australia.

Print has another 15 years, “with a lot of luck.”

Over the course of his many decades in the news business, Rupert has been a great lover of print newspapers, but he seems to agree that the end is in sight for ink on paper. He thinks print has only another 15 years at most. 

Another surprise? Murdoch is a cheerleader for AI describing it as a, “great technological breakthrough.” Though he concedes it will result in job losses, he believes new businesses will be created too. 

He shared that AI companies will pay for news because if they don’t there won’t be anything to distribute as publishers will be finished.  “We invest in the writing and that’s our IP. AI distributes it brilliantly. If they want access to it, we’re going to have to be paid or they’ll put us out of business.” News Corp. agreed a deal with OpenAI in May.

Whittaker also asked Murdoch about his thoughts on Australian and UK prime ministers. He doesn’t hesitate to praise Margaret Thatcher for her hard work, (she helped him bust the print unions in the eighties.) No word on whether Murdoch is asked to share a thought about former PM Tony Blair who has consistently denied an inappropriate relationship with the former Mrs. Murdoch, Wendi Deng.

Rupert has less praise for the former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull who had taken shots at Murdoch after stepped down from Fox last year, saying: “There’s no individual alive who has done more to divide America than Rupert Murdoch.” He also accused Rupert of creating an “anger-tainment ecosystem.”

Rupert told Whittaker in his interview that he thought Turnbull was “paranoid” and “nuts.” The last time Rupert used such language to describe a foe, was when The New York Post ran a headline about CNN founder Ted Turner, asking, “Is He Nuts? You Decide.”

The big Murdoch Q&A is timed to mark the 60th anniversary of The Australian, a serious upmarket broadsheet that was the country’s first national newspaper. Hoping to fulfill his father’s ambitions, Rupert launched the paper when he was just 33 years old. The full Q&A is out Monday for those who want to spring A$5 for access.

News site NOTUS reported on Friday that Rupert has been talking to former President Trump several times a day to push him to pick North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be his VP pick. (Rupert’s cattle ranch is next door in Montana.) Despite clear signs of aging, Rupert shows no signs of giving up efforts to influence US politics or stay abreast of the media business.

I’m writing a biography of Rupert Murdoch for Grand Central Publishing. If you’ve got a story, or want to share a thought drop me a line.