Elisabeth Murdoch rejects brother James' belief of profit at all costs

Elisabeth Murdoch urged the media industry to embrace morality and reject her brother James' mantra of profit at all costs, in a speech seen as an attempt to distance herself from the scandal that has tarnished her father Rupert's empire.

Addressing television executives, she said profit without purpose was a recipe for disaster and the phone hacking scandal at British tabloid the News of the World tabloid showed the need for a rigorous set of values.

The comments are being closely examined for signs of whether she could one day run News Corp instead of her brothers, whose chances have faded.

"News [Corp] is a company that is currently asking itself some very significant and difficult questions about how some behaviour fell so far short of its values," she said in the annual television industry MacTaggart lecture.

"Personally I believe one of the biggest lessons of the past year has been the need for any organisation to discuss, affirm and institutionalise a rigorous set of values based on an explicit statement of purpose," she said in remarks which drew applause.

Elisabeth Murdoch - a successful television producer who was overlooked for senior jobs at News Corp that went first to her brother Lachlan and then James - said a lack of morality could become a dangerous own goal for capitalism.