News Corp's under pressure over hacking testimony

News Corp's James Murdoch under pressure over hacking testimony
News Corp executive James Murdoch was under pressure on Monday over his handling of a phone-hacking scandal that has hit the Murdoch family's media empire and could jeopardise his own position at the company.

British police are considering a request from opposition Labour politician Tom Watson to investigate claims the 38-year-old son of News Corp head Rupert Murdoch gave "mistaken" testimony to a high profile hearing in parliament last week.                          

Later this week James Murdoch is expected to retain the support of investors and independent directors of BSkyB when the pay-TV company which he chairs and in which News Corp holds a 39 percent stake announces its financial results.

James and his father appeared before parliament's media committee on Tuesday to answer questions on phone-hacking. The scandal aroused public fury earlier this month after revelations the phone of missing school girl Milly Dowler had been hacked in 2002. The body of the murdered 13-year-old was found several months after she disappeared.

News Corp's British arm News International had maintained until then that previously known about incidents of the illegal practice at its News of the World tabloid was the work of a lone "rogue reporter".

However, two former senior figures at its British newspaper arm on Friday disputed James Murdoch's claim at the committee hearing that he had been unaware in 2008 of an e-mail that suggested such wrongdoing was more widespread.

In a letter to the media committee's chairman James Murdoch said he had answered questions in parliament truthfully.

A media analyst said,"James Murdoch is in a precarious position," 
James Murdoch's position as chairman of BSkyB will come under scrutiny later this week when independent directors meet to discuss corporate governance.

But they are expected to back him, as are investors who are looking for a share buy back or special dividend when the firm reports its financial results on Friday.

James Murdoch can point to a highly successful four years as the company's chief executive before becoming as non-executive chairman in late 2007.

Murdoch rejects blame for hack scandal

Prime Minister David Cameron faces questioning at a special parliamentary session Wednesday about the widening phone hacking and bribery scandal that has rocked Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and embroiled Britain's top police, many journalists and politicians.

Cameron cut short his Africa trip and returned home late Tuesday to appear before the parliamentary question session that he called. Cameron's former communications chief, Andy Coulson - a former editor at the now-defunct tabloid News of the World - is among several people who have been arrested in the scandal,
Cameron's appearance came a day after Rupert Murdoch was summoned by lawmakers to answer for the scandal at the News of the World. Murdoch said he was humbled and ashamed but accepted no responsibility for wrongdoing.

In a three-hour grilling Tuesday, the 80-year-old media tycoon insisted he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at the News of the World, and noted that the paper made up a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

Murdoch appeared confused and flustered in the beginning of Tuesday's parliamentary hearing, turning frequently to his son James for answers. But he soon regained his trademark cool.
He said he had known nothing of allegations that staff at the News of the World tabloid hacked into cell phones and bribed police to get information on celebrities, politicians and crime victims, and that he never would have approved such "horrible invasions" of privacy.

"This is the most humble day of my career," said Murdoch, a man once so politically powerful in Britain that former Prime Minister Tony Blair flew halfway around the world to secure his support as he launched the Labour Party's bid for power in 1995.