Pressure increases on James Murdoch to clarify his statements to the British Parliament
News Corp. was hoping that having its chairman, Rupert Murdoch, and his deputy chief operating officer, his son James, apologize to the British Parliament for phone hacking at its News of the World tabloid would mark the beginning of the end of intense scrutiny the media giant has endured for the last two weeks.
But it may be only the end of the beginning.
New questions have arisen about James Murdoch’s statements to Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport on Tuesday with regard to what he knew about the extent of the phone hacking and when he knew it. News of the World operatives have been accused of not only hacking into voicemails of celebrities and members of the royal family, but also victims of crime and terrorism and their families.
Since James Murdoch’s remarks to Parliament, Colin Myler, a former News of the World editor, and Tom Crone, a former executive at News International, the News Corp. unit that housed the paper, have gone public to say they had alerted him to how prevalent phone hacking was at the tabloid.
On Friday, John Whittingdale, head of the parliamentary committee that questioned the Murdochs, said James Murdoch has been asked to clarify his comments — a sentiment echoed by British Prime Minister David Cameron. James Murdoch issued a statement Thursday saying he stood by his remarks to Parliament.
The revelations of the phone hacking have torn through News Corp. Not only has it led to the shutdown of the 168-year-old News of the World, but it also derailed News Corp.’s plans to buy powerful British Broadcaster BSkyB outright, and two top executives — Les Hinton and Rebekah Brooks — were forced to resign. Brooks was subsequently arrested.
News Corp.’s headaches in Britain are beginning to spread to the United States. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has requested that the FBI look into allegations that News of the World may have tried to hack into the voicemails of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Asked about that during the Parliament hearing, Rupert Murdoch said there was no evidence to support those claims.
Still, the Justice Department is putting the wheels in motion for its own probe into the matter as well as to whether News of the World’s actions put News Corp. in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Justice Department declined to comment.
Some members of Congress and watchdog groups also have called for hearings to explore whether News Corp. has engaged in any illegal activity.
On Friday, the activist group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics asked for congressional hearings to determine if News Corp. had violated the character requirements mandated by the Federal Communications Commission to operate television stations.
News Corp. owns 27 television stations in the United States. A News Corp. spokeswoman declined to comment.
Times staff writers Henry Chu in London and Richard A. Serrano in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
