Murdoch shut down UK tabloid in 'panic'
Source: Agencies |
April 27, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NEWS Corp chief Rupert Murdoch said yesterday that he panicked when he closed the News of the World tabloid last year, one of a series of revealing exchanges made at an inquiry into British media ethics.
The 81-year-old media magnate acknowledged the scandal which erupted at the Sunday tabloid last July was a "serious blot" on his reputation, but said his company was drawing a line under the sordid episode.
"I've spent hundreds of millions of dollars" cleaning up News Corp subsidiary News International, Murdoch told the inquiry. "We are now a new company altogether."
Murdoch's was testifying for a second day at an inquiry run by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, a hotly anticipated appearance which has so far seen the media mogul meet pointed questions about his nexus of political influence and business interests with a wall of denials.
Murdoch largely stuck to the same script yesterday, but a few new revelations tumbled out - along with a strikingly personal admission that he didn't do enough to nip the scandal in the bud. "I failed," he said at one point. "And I'm sorry about it."
Pressed on why he closed the News of the World at the height of the scandal, Murdoch said it was an impulse move.
"I panicked," Murdoch said. "But I'm glad I did."
Murdoch also revealed that he was shocked by the size of the 2008 payout - US$1 million - made to one of the very first victims of phone hacking to sue News International - testimony at odds with what his son James told the inquiry earlier in the week. The younger Murdoch said that at the time he had no way of knowing whether the sum was particularly large.
But the elder Murdoch expressed no such doubts. "The size seemed incredible," he said. "It still does seem incredible."
Overall, Murdoch stuck to the line that he and his son were deliberately kept in the dark about illegal behavior at the tabloid.
The 81-year-old media magnate acknowledged the scandal which erupted at the Sunday tabloid last July was a "serious blot" on his reputation, but said his company was drawing a line under the sordid episode.
"I've spent hundreds of millions of dollars" cleaning up News Corp subsidiary News International, Murdoch told the inquiry. "We are now a new company altogether."
Murdoch's was testifying for a second day at an inquiry run by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, a hotly anticipated appearance which has so far seen the media mogul meet pointed questions about his nexus of political influence and business interests with a wall of denials.
Murdoch largely stuck to the same script yesterday, but a few new revelations tumbled out - along with a strikingly personal admission that he didn't do enough to nip the scandal in the bud. "I failed," he said at one point. "And I'm sorry about it."
Pressed on why he closed the News of the World at the height of the scandal, Murdoch said it was an impulse move.
"I panicked," Murdoch said. "But I'm glad I did."
Murdoch also revealed that he was shocked by the size of the 2008 payout - US$1 million - made to one of the very first victims of phone hacking to sue News International - testimony at odds with what his son James told the inquiry earlier in the week. The younger Murdoch said that at the time he had no way of knowing whether the sum was particularly large.
But the elder Murdoch expressed no such doubts. "The size seemed incredible," he said. "It still does seem incredible."
Overall, Murdoch stuck to the line that he and his son were deliberately kept in the dark about illegal behavior at the tabloid.
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