background preloader

Murdoch's testimony in Parliament

Facebook Twitter

Murdochs and Brooks set to face MPs' questions. Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, his son James Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks, until a week ago the three most powerful figures in British media, will on Tuesday face an unprecedented three hours of questions over the extent to which they knew, approved or subsequently covered up widespread phone hacking at News International.

Their confrontation with the culture select committee potentially represents the most severe test of parliamentary authority since the select committee system was established in 1979. It also represents an unprecedented opportunity to cross-examine the normally unchallengeable 80-year-old Rupert Murdoch. James Murdoch, his chairmanship of BSkyB already in question, will face a make-or-break examination of his professional reputation in which he will have to explain why he authorised payments to cover up illegal phone hacking by the News of the World. Murdoch scandal leads to apology in Parliament. Reporting from London — Calling it the "most humble day of my life," media baron Rupert Murdoch appeared before British lawmakers Tuesday to answer questions about a phone-hacking scandal that has badly tarnished his and his company's reputation. The session was interrupted after 2 1/2 hours when a man ran up to Murdoch and apparently tried to fling something onto him, possibly shaving cream, causing Murdoch's wife, Wendi, to jump up to defend her husband while one of the lawmakers rose in alarm.

The young man was quickly arrested, handcuffed and bundled out of the committee room, with a white substance on his face and shirt. Murdoch, who also had some white substance on the right shoulder of his jacket, seemed to be unharmed. Photos: British phone hacking scandal But he refrained from describing such illegal tactics as "endemic" at News International, the British subsidiary of his media giant News Corp., and when asked if he bore ultimate responsibility, as News Corp.'

Humbled Murdoch denies responsibility. London - Rupert Murdoch said on Tuesday he faced "the most humble day of my life" but denied ultimate responsibility for the phone-hacking scandal as the media mogul and his son faced a grilling from British lawmakers. In testimony that at times stumbled to a halt, the 80-year-old News Corporation chief said he was appalled by the activities of the shuttered News of the World newspaper but shifted the blame onto the people who worked for him.

He also told a parliamentary committee there was no evidence the tabloid hacked the phones of 9/11 victims, a key allegation being investigated by the FBI that could threaten his US operations. "This is the most humble day of my life," the Australian-born Rupert Murdoch said in a brief opening statement to the British parliament's Culture, Media and Sport committee. Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was due to testify later. Not responsible Cops worked for Murdoch.

‪Murdoch: 'Humbled' Over Phone Hacking. Murdochs Say Top Executives Didn’t Know of Phone Hacking. Parbul TV, via Reuters Rupert Murdoch and his son James appeared before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. In two hours of intense questioning broken only by a bizarre incident in which Mr. Murdoch was accosted with what appeared to be a foil pie plate filled with shaving cream, both he and his son James declared repeatedly that they had been shocked to discover something that has become increasingly apparent: that phone hacking and other illegal behavior were endemic at their tabloid, which is now defunct.

Even so, the Murdochs and , a former editor at the paper who resigned from the News Corporation on Friday, only to be arrested on Sunday on suspicion of phone hacking and bribing the police, apologized again and again for the failures at their company. “I would just like to say one sentence,” Rupert Murdoch said, breaking at one point into a long answer by his son, the News Corporation’s deputy chief operating officer. “This is the most humble day of my life.” While the elder Mr. Mr. Murdoch's attack in Parliament. Video. A protester accused of throwing a paper plate of foam at Rupert Murdoch has told Sky News he did it because he wanted to see justice done. Jonathan May-Bowles, who also goes by the name Jonnie Marbles, has been charged with behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress in a public place.

He has been bailed to appear before City of Westminister Magistrates Court on Friday. Mr Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng and his son James immediately jumped to his defence during a sitting of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee. Ms Deng, who had been sitting behind her husband as he gave his evidence to the committee, leapt up and pushed the assailant away.

She then smacked the plate over the demonstrator as he was led away by police. Explaining his actions, May-Bowles said: "Beyond the fact that this was not a UK Unncut action, I guess I did it because I had no faith in the Parliamentary process and I wanted to see some kind of justice done. " "I suppose the assailant was really shocked by that. " Jonnie Marbles Ousts Himself. The News of the World phone hacking scandal officially became stranger than fiction when a man interrupted the UK Parliament's questioning of Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch Tuesday afternoon to push a pie (or a pie tin full of foam) into the elder's face. British Panel Says Murdochs Are Blocking Inquiries.