Phone hacking: Murdoch goes on defensive over ‘total lies’ by MPs

News Corp chairman uses interview in his own Wall Street Journal to defend handling of News of the World scandal Rupert Murdoch has mounted a robust defence of New Corporation’s management of the phone-hacking scandal , insisting that the company has handled the crisis “extremely well in every possible way”, making only “minor mistakes”. As the FBI launched an investigation into allegations that News of the World journalists also tried to hack into the phones of victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Murdoch told the Wall Street Journal , which is owned by News Corp: “When I hear something going wrong I insist on it being put right.” He said that he would use his appearance before the Commons culture, media and sport committee next Tuesday to challenge “some of the things that have been said in parliament, some of which are total lies”. “We think it’s important to absolutely establish our integrity in the eyes of the public … I felt that it’s best just to be as transparent as possible.” Asked whether his son James – who is News Corps deputy chief operating officer – had been too slow in reacting to the crisis, Murdoch said: “I think he acted as fast as he could, the moment he could.” He said the company would establish an independent committee headed by a “distinguished non-employee” to investigate all charges of improper conduct. Murdoch used the interview to take Gordon Brown to task for his claims that News International papers including the Sunday Times had illegally obtained information about him and his family. He said the former prime minister had “got it entirely wrong”, adding that “the Browns were always friends of ours” until the Sun withdrew its support for Labour before the last election. He dismissed claims that News Corp was considering selling or separating off its newspaper assets as “pure and total rubbish”. Asked if he was aggravated by all the negative publicity it had attracted in recent days, he said he was “just getting annoyed … I’ll get over it. I’m tired.” Rupert and James Murdoch last night gave in to demands to appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee after MPs issued summonses ordering them to appear. The leader of the House, Sir George Young, had warned that in theory at least they could be fined or even imprisoned if they refused. News International’s chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, will also appear. The launch of the FBI inquiry amounts to the first official investigation within the US into News Corporation activities. It brings the scandal within Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper division closer to his American home and to News Corp’s headquarters in Manhattan. Amid calls from US politicians and relatives of 9/11 victims for a review of the allegations. Peter King, the Republican chairman of the homeland security committee in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday wrote to the director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, asking him to open an investigation of the 9/11 allegations. In his letter King said he represented a district of New York that lost more than 150 constituents in the terror attacks. “If these allegations are proven true the conduct would merit felony charges and any person found guilty should receive the harshest sanctions available under law.” The claim that Murdoch journalists attempted to get hold of victims’ phone details was made by the Mirror newspaper , which sourced the story to an unnamed former New York police officer working as a private detective, who was said to have been approached by News of the World reporters asking him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead. The detective was reported to have declined. It is unclear whether there is any substance to the Mirror’s allegations. But relatives of 9/11 victims have expressed delight and relief that the FBI is stepping in. Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son Christian died in the World Trade Centre attacks, said: “I’m very happy. The FBI is being very responsive in acting on our call for a full investigation.” Jim McCaffrey, a New York firefighter who lost his brother-in-law Orio Palmer, also a firefighter, on 9/11, said: “If these claims are found to be true I think it’s a terrible revelation and very, very upsetting to 9/11 family members.” Even if the Mirror article is accurate, there might be a problem with moving forward with an investigation because the events were so long ago. Several legal experts including a former top lawyer for the FBI have said there is a five-year statute of limitations on prosecution under US federal wiretapping laws. Rupert Murdoch Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Wall Street Journal US press and publishing News of the World United States Sam Jones Ed Pilkington Andrew Gumbel guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.