Murdoch: 'I Know Saying Sorry Isn't Enough'

Rupert Murdoch has said his appearance before MPs over the phone-hacking scandal was "the most humble day of my life", but denied ultimate responsibility for the affair.

The News Corporation chief spoke of his shame but said he has been let down by "people I trusted".

Mr Murdoch and his son James, who heads up the company's European operation, were appearing before the Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

Both were questioned over phone hacking at the News Of The World (NOTW) and their handling of the crisis.

Rupert Murdoch admitted he had perhaps lost sight of the NOTW but insisted responsibility for the scandal lies with "the people that I trusted and then, maybe, the people they trusted".

Asked by Labour MP Tom Watson whether he had been "misled" by senior employees, Rupert Murdoch replied: "Clearly."

He said he had not considered resigning, adding: "Because I feel that people I trusted let me down and they behaved disgracefully, betrayed the company and me and it is for them to pay."

He explained that the newspaper represents less than 1% of his global company, which employs 53,000 "great and ethical" people around the world.

"The NOTW, perhaps I lost sight of. Maybe because it was so small in the general frame of our company," he said.

Asked how often he spoke to his newspaper editors, Mr Murdoch senior said: "Very seldom."

But then went on: "Sometimes I would ring the News Of The World on a Saturday night to say have you got any news tonight. But it was just to keep in touch. I ring the editor of the Sunday Times nearly every Saturday night."

Questioned about the 200 journalists who lost their jobs when the NOTW was closed down, Mr Murdoch senior replied: "When a company closes down it is natural for people to lose their jobs."

He said they had tried to secure employment for those people in other divisions of the company.

Explaining why the newspaper was shut down, he said: "We felt ashamed at what happened. We had broken our trust with our readers."

He told the committee: "I was absolutely shocked, appalled and ashamed when I heard about the Milly Dowler case only two weeks ago."

The hearing was briefly interrupted as MPs asked their final questions when a man launched an attack on Mr Murdoch senior.

The assailant, named by Sky sources as Jonnie Marbles, thrust a plate of foam in the media mogul's face.

Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi and son James jumped to defend him before police led the man from the room in handcuffs.

James Murdoch told the hearing how sorry he and his father were to the victims of phone hacking.

"It is a matter of great regret of mine, my father's and everyone at News Corporation," he said.

"These actions do not live up to the standards our company aspires to everywhere around the world."

Asked if he would rethink the way his papers presented stories, Rupert Murdoch said: "I am sure that there are headlines which can occasionally give offence, but it is not intentional."

He added: "This doesn't take away from our apologies or our blame but this country does benefit greatly from a competitive press and therefore having a very transparent society."

Committee member Mr Watson pointed out that former News International (NI) chief executive Rebekah Brooks admitted in 2003 that police were paid for information.

Mr Murdoch senior said: "I am now aware of that, I was not aware at the time. I'm also aware that she amended that considerably very quickly afterwards."

Mr Watson said: "I think she amended it seven or eight years afterwards, but did you or anyone else in your organisation investigate it at the time?"

Mr Murdoch replied: "No. I didn't know of it."

James Murdoch told the committee the company had acted "swiftly" as soon as it became aware of fresh evidence over phone hacking, which only came to light after a series of civil actions in 2010, particularly the case involving actress Sienna Miller.

He said it became apparent that more people than originally believed had fallen victim to the practice.

"Subsequent to our discovery of that information in one of these civil trials at the end of 2010, which I believe was the Sienna Miller case, the company immediately went to look at additional records around the individual involved, the company alerted the police and restarted, on that basis, the investigation that is now under way," he told the committee.

He added: "The company acted as swiftly and transparently as possible."

Mr Murdoch junior said the length of time it took for the "critical new facts" to emerge is a "matter of deep frustration".

"It's a matter of real regret that the facts could not emerge and could not be gotten to, to my understanding, faster," he added.

James Murdoch was asked by committee chair John Whittingdale which NOTW staff, apart from Clive Goodman, were involved in phone hacking.

"There have been a number of arrests of former News Of The World employees," he replied.

"These are matters for current criminal investigations and I think understandably it's difficult for me to comment in particular on some of those individuals."

Asked why he had not sacked NOTW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck after the Max Mosley case - when a judge found he had blackmailed two prostitutes involved - Rupert Murdoch replied: "I have never heard of him."

James Murdoch said his father was told of an out-of-court settlement with Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor for phone hacking only after it became public in 2009.

"Please understand that an out-of-court settlement of civil claim of that nature and of that quantum is something that normally, in a company of our size, the responsible executives in the country would be authorised to make," he said.

"It is below the approval thresholds that would have to go to my father as chairman and chief executive of the global companies."

Mr Murdoch junior said he had been advised by the NOTW's then-editor Colin Myler and chief lawyer Tom Crone to settle Mr Taylor's claim for damages out of court.

"Their advice was that in the absence of new evidence, that this was simply a matter to do with events that had come to light in 2007 in the criminal trial before, and before I was there, and that this was a matter in the past," he said.

"The police as well had closed their case and said there is no new evidence here."

James Murdoch rejected suggestions the company had inserted confidentiality agreements into the out-of-court settlements with the victims of phone hacking in order to "buy their silence".

"That inference would be false," he said.

He said that he had only learned the phones of Milly Dowler and other victims of crime had been hacked when it was reported in the press earlier this month.

"I can tell you it was a total shock. That is the first I heard of it," he said.

Asked about reports that News International journalists had tried to hack the phones of 9/11 victims in the US, Rupert Murdoch said that they had "no evidence of that at all".

James Murdoch added: "Those are incredibly serious allegations and they have come to light very recently.

"We do not know the veracity of those allegations and are trying to understand precisely what they are.

"It is just appalling to think that anyone associated with one of our papers would have done something like that. I am aware of no evidence about that."

Speaking on Jeff Randall Live after the hearing, John Farrelly MP, a member of the committee, said progress had been made.

"There was a file in News International's lawyers' offices all the time that gave a lie to investigations that they said proved there was just one rogue reporter," he said.

"And today we came one step closer because Rupert Murdoch himself said that file lay in the hands of Jon Chapman, now departed, who was the head of legal at News International for years."