James Murdoch testifying about phone hacking, News Corp.'s dealings with Prime Minister David Cameron, right now
James Murdoch.
9:29 am Apr. 24, 2012
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Embattled News Corp. executive James Murdoch is testifying before the Leveson inquiry, the British parliamentary hearings that were generated by the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal, this morning. (Or this afternoon, Greenwich mean time.)
For live coverage, head over to The Guardian, which is streaming Murdoch's testimony and live-blogging it here.
Here are a few of the highlights so far:
- Murdoch and Prime Minister David Cameron discussed News Corp's proposed bid to takeover BSkyB, a revelation that's "likely to provoke calls for an inquiry into the prime minister’s insistence he had not discussed the proposed bid."
- They met 12 times while Cameron was leader of the Conservative Party.
- With regard to phone-hacking, Murdoch maintained his defense that his subordinates, including former News of the World editor Colin Myler, misled him about how widespread the scandal was.
- "In the end,” Mr. Murdoch said, “the profitability of The News of the World did not save it."
- He also admitted that News of the World should not have run an infamous story falsely claiming that former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley had a "sick Nazi orgy."
You can read Murdoch's witness statement here.
In other news...
New York Post editor Col Allan is disputing critical quotes about Daily News editor Colin Myler attributed to him in Steve Fishman's New York magazine feature this week. [New York/Daily Intel]
MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines is headed to Gannett. [NYT/Media Decoder]
The Daily News has a new blogging and social media policy. [Jim Romenesko]
"News organizations want audiences to believe they have the resources to scour the globe, even when it isn’t true." [C.J.R./Behind the News]
Former New York Observer nightlife reporter Nate Freeman has landed at ArtInfo. [The New York Observer]
