RUPERT MURDOCH has admitted to the Leveson Inquiry into the British press that there was a “cover-up” at his UK publisher News International over the phone-hacking scandal.
Mr Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News International parent company News Corp, giving his second day of evidence, said he was “misinformed and shielded” from what was going on at the News of the World, adding that there was a “cover-up”.
Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, said there had been a consistent theme of cover-up during the phone-hacking scandal, and asked Mr Murdoch where he thought this emanated from.
“I think from within the News of the World,” he replied.
Mr Murdoch said there were “one or two very strong characters” on the now-defunct Sunday paper who, according to reported statements, had forbidden people from talking to Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch, who were at the time News International chief executive and chairman.
Mr Murdoch said a News of the World editor was appointed – referring to Colin Myler, although he did not name him at this point – “with specific instructions to find out what was going on”.
“He did, I believe, put in two or three new steps of regulation but never reported back that there was more hacking than we had been told.”
Mr Myler was appointed in January 2007, after the News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire admitted phone hacking and went to prison.
His predecessor, Andy Coulson, denied any knowledge of phone hacking but resigned, saying he took responsibility.
Mr Murdoch told the inquiry Mr Myler “would not have been my choice” and that he was the choice of Les Hinton, who was News International’s executive chairman. He said he thought at the time there were stronger candidates from the News International title The Sun.
Mr Jay asked if Mr Myler was a weak individual and wrong man for the job. “I would say that was a slight exaggeration,” replied Mr Murdoch. “I would hope Mr Myler would do what he was commissioned to do.”
When asked by Mr Jay whether News Corp had managed the legal risk of phone hacking by covering it up, Mr Murdoch replied: “No. There was no attempt either at my level or several levels below to cover it up. We set up inquiry after inquiry, we employed legal firm after legal firm. Perhaps we relied too much on the conclusions of the police. Our response was far too defensive and, worse, disrespectful of parliament.”
Mr Murdoch later said he wished he had closed the News of the World earlier and also admitted he panicked when the phone-hacking affair blew up into a major scandal in July 2011.
“When the Milly Dowler [story] was first given huge publicity, I think newspapers took the chance to make this a huge national scandal. It made people all over the country aware of this, you could feel the blast coming in the window,” he told the inquiry.
“I’ll say it succinctly: I panicked, but I’m glad I did. And I’m sorry I didn’t close it years before and put a Sun on Sunday in. I tell you what held us back: News of the World readers. Only half of them read the Sun. Only a quarter, regular.”
Mr Murdoch said he also made a major mistake listening to lawyers when Mr Goodman alleged that others on the News of the World knew about phone hacking.
“I should have thrown all the lawyers out and seen Mr Goodman one on one and cross-examined him myself and made up my mind, maybe rightly or wrongly, was he telling the truth? And if I had come to the conclusion that he was telling the truth, I’d have gone in and torn the place apart and we wouldn’t be here today,” he added.
Earlier, Mr Murdoch agreed with Mr Jay that the phone-hacking scandal had forced News Corp to drop its controversial £8 billion takeover bid for BSkyB in July 2011.News Corp withdrew its bid for BSkyB nine days after it was revealed that Ms Dowler’s phone had been hacked by the tabloid.