Rupert Murdoch has sounded a defiant note about the future of News Corp, hailing the company’s “contrarian investment style” as proof it is well positioned to weather the economic downturn.

In an internal memo Mr Murdoch said News Corp was “on the phase of a new cusp of growth”. In spite of headwinds from an advertising and consumer recession that prompted the company to slash its forecasts for 2009 this month, he said the group had emerged from past downturns by “departing from the herd”.