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"17:31: Rupert Murdoch reads the statement he had hoped to read at the start. The hearing concludes. 17:23: &amp;quot;No,&amp;quot; says Rupert Murdoch when asked if he has considered resigning. He says of people no longer with News Corp: &amp;quot;They betrayed the company, and me, and it&amp;#039;s for them to pay.&amp;quot; He adds: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m the best person to clean this up.&amp;quot; 17:22: Mensch&amp;#039;s question about Morgan was designed to illustrate a wider point suggesting hacking was &amp;quot;part of the general culture of corruption&amp;quot; in the British tabloid press. James Murdoch says it is not for him to &amp;quot;impugn&amp;quot; other companies. 17:21: Piers Morgan responds on Twitter: &amp;quot;That MP just claimed I boasted in my book of using phone-hacking for a scoop. Complete nonsense. Just read the book.&amp;quot; 17:18: Louise Mensch has just accused Piers Morgan of &amp;quot;personal use&amp;quot; of a technique to gain access to people&amp;#039;s voicemails. That allegation went out live on CNN and CNN International, where Morgan anchors a nightly talk show, and on MSNBC, the corporate cousin of America&amp;#039;s Got Talent broadcaster NBC. 17:17: Addressing Rupert Murdoch directly, Mensch asks whether he directed all his editors to conduct a root-and-branch investigation of their own properties. &amp;quot;No, but I am more than prepared to do so.&amp;quot; 17:13: Mensch asks a pointed question as to whether News Corp employees or contractors hacked 9/11 victims&amp;#039; phones. Rupert Murdoch&amp;#039;s answer is emphatically that there is no evidence; James Murdoch&amp;#039;s answer is more nuanced, noting that the allegations are new and that News Corp would fully co-operate with looking into the matter. 17:12: Mensch expresses incredulity that neither of the executives before her &amp;quot;who nobody would accuse of being passive&amp;quot; knew so little. She asks James Murdoch when he knew about the hacking of Milly Dowler&amp;#039;s phone. &amp;quot;It only came to my attention when it was reported in the press,&amp;quot; he replies. &amp;quot;It was a total shock. It was the first I had heard of it.&amp;quot; 17:10: Louise Mensch (Con, Corby) re-opens questioning &amp;quot;after we were so rudely interrupted&amp;quot; by asking about out-of-court settlements and confidentiality. 17:09: John Whittingdale has apologised to Rupert and James Murdoch for the way they have been treated. The hearing will continue. 17:07: @JonnieMarbles, a UKUncut activist, appears to be claiming responsibility: &amp;quot;It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat&amp;quot; 17:05: CNN confirms Rupert Murdoch was hit in the face by a polystyrene plate of shaving foam. 17:04: MPs suggesting that the Serjeant at Arms and the Speaker will decide whether criminal proceedings will be launched. 17:03: Foam revealed to be shaving foam. Expect an update with brand in due course. 17:01: More details: Man attempted to plop a plate of foam in Rupert&amp;#039;s face.  17:00: Extraordinary scenes from the Wilson Room in Portcullis House. Rupert Murdoch&amp;#039;s wife, Wendi, hit the man as he approached her husband; James leapt from his seat to try to protect him. 16:59: Details now emerging. The man involved has a substance, possibly paint, on his face. 16:56: One person handcuffed, taken away by police. 16:54: Someone lunges for Rupert Murdoch; sitting suspended for 10 minutes 16:50: Damian Collins (Con, Folkestone) asks whether there is a cultural problem at News Corp where Rupert Murdoch is only told what he wants to hear. He says it is his job to &amp;quot;see through&amp;quot; anything like that, which would be &amp;quot;human nature&amp;quot;. 16:48: Rupert Murdoch says his son James and Les Hinton were &amp;quot;badly betrayed&amp;quot;. 16:47: Rupert Murdoch says newspapers are well within their right to campaign for a change in the law, &amp;quot;but never to break it&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;I was brought up by a father who was not rich but was a great journalist. Just before he died he bought a small paper and wanted to do good. He exposed the Gallipoli scandal and I&amp;#039;m very proud of that.&amp;quot; 16:46: James takes over the answer. He draws the line at phone hacking. 16:44: Rupert Murdoch answers a question about the limits of investigative journalism by suggesting that the reaction to the Daily Telegraph&amp;#039;s expenses scoop was ridiculous. He suggests the Singaporean model of high compensation for politicians results in a clean society. 16:43: Rupert Murdoch: &amp;quot;Investigative journalism does lead to a more transparent and open society. We are a better society because of it. I think we are more an open society than the United States.&amp;quot; 16:42: People do not have a right to absolute privacy in British society, says Rupert Murdoch. 16:39: Alan Keen asks whether James Murdoch&amp;#039;s appointment at Sky was nepotism. Rupert Murdoch says that although the press &amp;quot;had a field day&amp;quot; it was a decision he stands by and that when he was promoted to a wider brief many shareholders were displeased because &amp;quot;he had done such a good job&amp;quot;. 16:37: James Murdoch tells Alan Keen (Lab, Feltham) that he understands the frustration surrounding the case. It is a matter of &amp;quot;real regret&amp;quot; that the pushback in 2009 was too hard. 16:36: James Murdoch: &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s a difference between being kept in the dark and the management of a large business in which management is delegated.&amp;quot; 16:35: &amp;quot;I may have been lax in not asking more,&amp;quot; concedes Rupert Murdoch, &amp;quot;but it was such a tiny part of my business.&amp;quot; 16:31: &amp;quot;Do you think it&amp;#039;s remotely possible that editors at your newspapers would not have known of these activities?&amp;quot; asks Farrelly. Rupert Murdoch refuses to answer citing police investigations but says &amp;quot;Mr Myler was appointed [to edit the NOTW] by Mr Hinton to find out what the hell was going on&amp;quot;. 16:27: Farrelly wraps up by saying that the Murdochs cannot tell the committee who lodged the phone hacking dossier of emails to the outside law firm, who had access to it, and that this is &amp;quot;unsatisfactory&amp;quot;. 16:18: Paul Farrelly (Lab, Newcastle-under-Lyme) continues his string of questions. James Murdoch is increasingly refusing to answer on the basis of not interfering with the police investigation - specifically when asked whether a recent Sunday Times report saying Alex Marunchak, Greg Miskiw, Clive Goodman, Neville Thurlbeck and Ian Edmondson were &amp;quot;gatekeepers&amp;quot; to phone hacking information at News International. 16:17: Shares in News Corporation opened higher in New York and are currently trading up 4.2% at $16.04. 16:07: Rupert Murdoch says he will give the order for News to cease paying Glenn Mulcaire&amp;#039;s legal fees &amp;quot;if it is not in breach of contract&amp;quot;. 16:06: &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know the precise status&amp;quot; of whether News Corp is still paying Glenn Mulcaire. He says he has asked the company &amp;quot;to find a way&amp;quot; for such payments to cease. 16:05: James Murdoch was &amp;quot;surprised and shocked&amp;quot; to learn that Glenn Mulcaire&amp;#039;s legal fees were being paid by News Corp. Electric exchanges. 16:03: &amp;quot;The bad things that certain... of the things that happened at the News of the World... it was right for the paper to cease publication,&amp;quot; says James Murdoch of the NOTW closure. &amp;quot;The company is being as generous as we can under the circumstances&amp;quot; with regards to the treatment of former NOTW staff. 16:00: James Murdoch refuses to reveal how much senior News International executives such as Brooks and Hinton were paid when they left the company: &amp;quot;It is commercially confidential.&amp;quot; 15:58: Rebekah Murdoch, as CEO of News International, would have been responsible for chief lawyer Tom Crone leaving the company. Crone has earlier stated that his conscience is clear. &amp;quot;She insisted [on resigning]&amp;quot; states Rupert Murdoch of Brooks, &amp;quot;She was in a great deal of anguish.&amp;quot; 15:51: James Murdoch all but agrees that News International paid for Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcaire&amp;#039;s legal fees. &amp;quot;Were any payments made to Goodman or Mulcaire after their conviction?&amp;quot; James Murdoch: &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s a very good question.&amp;quot; 15:47: James Murdoch is asked if he overpaid compensation to Max Clifford and Gordon Taylor. James Murdoch, &amp;quot;It is a decision that I would still stand by.&amp;quot; Rupert Murdoch says that there was also a contract with Max Clifford that was cancelled as a result. 15:45: Rupert Murdoch, asked about how much contact he has with his newspaper editors, says he calls the Editor of The Sunday Times every weekend. &amp;quot;The News of the World I lost sight of, maybe because it was so small in the frame of our company.&amp;quot; Earlier Murdoch claimed the closed tabloid made up just &amp;quot;1%&amp;quot; of his global business. 15:43: James Murdoch is insisting that he and his father are being entirely honest during this committee hearing and have not been coached by anyone to be anything otherwise. 15:39: James Murdoch is asked if he is familiar with the term &amp;quot;willful blindness&amp;quot; - a legal term that came up in the Enron case. James Murdoch denies knowledge of the phrase while Murdoch Snr states he has heard of it but is not guilty of it.  15:30: &amp;quot;No decision&amp;quot; has been taken for News Corp to launch a Sunday tabloid to replace the News of the World. &amp;quot;That is not the company&amp;#039;s priority now,&amp;quot; says James Murdoch. &amp;quot;In the last week, it has come up in the company; my father&amp;#039;s direction and my direction is that is not our priority.&amp;quot; 15:29 Rupert Murdoch: &amp;quot;This country does greatly benefit from having a competitive press and therefore having a transparent society. That is sometimes inconvenient for people.&amp;quot; 15:25: Reporters at News Corp do not have authority to make payments. Managing Editors manage such matters and must do so in accordance with the Code of Conduct. 15:24: The opening statement to the committee, which the chairman refused to hear, has been submitted in writing: Mr. Chairman. Select Committee Members: With your permission, I would like to read a short statement. My son and I have come here with great respect for all of you, for Parliament and for the people of Britain whom you represent. This is the most humble day of my career. After all that has happened, I know we need to be here today. Before going further, James and I would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened \u2013 especially with regard to listening to the voicemail of victims of crime. My company has 52,000 employees. I have led it for 57 years and I have made my share of mistakes. I have lived in many countries, employed thousands of honest and hardworking journalists, owned nearly 200 newspapers and followed countless stories about people and families around the world. At no time do I remember being as sickened as when I heard what the Dowler family had to endure \u2013 nor do I recall being as angry as when I was told that the News of the World could have compounded their distress. I want to thank the Dowlers for graciously giving me the opportunity to apologise in person. I would like all the victims of phone hacking to know how completely and deeply sorry I am. Apologising cannot take back what has happened. Still, I want them to know the depth of my regret for the horrible invasions into their lives. I fully understand their ire. And I intend to work tirelessly to merit their forgiveness. I understand our responsibility to cooperate with today&amp;#039;s session as well as with future inquiries. We will respond to your questions to the best of our ability and follow up if we are not capable of answering anything today. Please remember that some facts and information are still being uncovered. We now know that things went badly wrong at the News of the World. For a newspaper that held others to account, it failed when it came to itself. The behaviour that occurred went against everything that I stand for. It not only betrayed our readers and me, but also the many thousands of magnificent professionals in our other divisions around the world. So, let me be clear in saying: invading people&amp;#039;s privacy by listening to their voicemail is wrong. Paying police officers for information is wrong. They are inconsistent with our codes of conduct and neither has any place, in any part of the company I run. But saying sorry is not enough. Things must be put right. No excuses. This is why News International is cooperating fully with the police whose job it is to see that justice is done. It is our duty not to prejudice the outcome of the legal process. I am sure the committee will understand this. I wish we had managed to see and fully solve these problems earlier. When two men were sent to prison in 2007, I thought this matter had been settled. The police ended their investigations and I was told that News International conducted an internal review. I am confident that when James later rejoined News Corporation he thought the case was closed too. These are subjects you will no doubt wish to explore today. This country has given me, our companies and our employees many opportunities. I am grateful for them. I hope our contribution to Britain will one day also be recognised. Above all, I hope that, through the process that is beginning with your questions today, we will come to understand the wrongs of the past, prevent them from happening again and, in the years ahead, restore the nation&amp;#039;s trust in our company and in all British journalism. I am committed to doing everything in my power to make this happen. Thank you. We are happy to answer your questions. 15:22: News International had sufficient financial authority to make out-of-court settlements without clearance from News Corp in New York. 15:20: Therese Coffey (Con, Suffolk Coastal) leads a round of questioning about the closure of the News of the World. Asked whether it was a commercial decision, Rupert Murdoch says &amp;quot;far from it&amp;quot;. 15:14: Rupert Murdoch says that News Corp dropped its bid to acquire 100% of Sky due to the prevailing &amp;quot;mood&amp;quot; - competitors had whipped up &amp;quot;hysteria&amp;quot; over the acquisition and were subsequently able to catch the company with its &amp;quot;hands dirty&amp;quot;. 15:11: The FBI has found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of News Corp in the United States, says Rupert Murdoch when asked about allegations, made by the Daily Mirror, that the News of the World hacked voicemail boxes of 9/11 victims. &amp;quot;We have seen no evidence of that at all and as far as we know the FBI haven&amp;#039;t either. If they do we will treat it exactly the same way as we do here.&amp;quot; 15:10: Questioning - taken over by Jim Sheridan (Labour, Paisley) - shifts to whether Rupert Murdoch has ever placed preconditions upon a party leader to secure the support of his newspapers. Murdoch says not, and furthermore says he was invited to Number 10 within days of the 2010 general election to &amp;quot;have a cup of tea&amp;quot; and be thanked for his support of Prime Minister Cameron. 15:04: &amp;quot;We felt ashamed at what had happened,&amp;quot; Rupert Murdoch says of the decision to close the News of the World. &amp;quot;We had broken our trust with our readers.&amp;quot; 15:02: The status so far: Rupert Murdoch says he only found out about the hacking of Milly Dowler&amp;#039;s voicemail two weeks ago; was not informed about out-of-court settlement payments to hacking victims. 15:01: &amp;quot;Your father is responsible for corporate governance,&amp;quot; says Watson when James Murdoch asks him and the chairman to direct these questions to him as CEO of News International. &amp;quot;There has been serious wrongdoing.&amp;quot; 14:58: Rupert Murdoch: &amp;quot;I was absolutely shocked, appalled and ashamed when I heard of the Milly Dowler case.&amp;quot; 14:55: Long delays between Watson&amp;#039;s questions and Murdoch&amp;#039;s answers. James Murdoch tries to answer on his father&amp;#039;s behalf but Watson says he wants Rupert to answer questions of corporate governance at News Corp. 14:53: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;d never heard of him,&amp;quot; says Rupert Murdoch of former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck when Tom Watson asks why he was not dismissed after the Max Mosley case. 14:50: Rupert Murdoch reiterates that the News of the World was less than 1% of his company and that he employs tens of thousands of people on a basis of trust to run his business interests. 14:49: Tom Watson (Labour, West Brom E) cites Murdoch&amp;#039;s previous comments that he does not tolerate wrongdoing at News Corp. He asks: &amp;quot;If you were not lying, someone was lying to you. Who was it?&amp;quot; Rupert Murdoch&amp;#039;s response: &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know. That is what the police are investigating.&amp;quot; 14:48: &amp;quot;There is no evidence that I have seen of any impropriety&amp;quot; on the part of Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton. 14:47: James says it was not clear in 2008 and 2009 that there were extra matters to deal with - and adds that it is a matter of &amp;quot;deep frustration&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;real regret&amp;quot; that what was subsequently revealed after civil action was not known earlier. 14:45: James Murdoch: &amp;quot;The company relied upon the police having closed the [2007] investigation; the company relied upon the PCC... the company relied upon the legal opinion of outside counsel.&amp;quot; He disavows direct knowledge of what other News employees knew and when they knew it when appearing before the committee. 14:42: Whittingdale seems unimpressed. He asks whether any of the company&amp;#039;s representatives lied to the committee in 2009. 14:41: James cites the civil trial around Sienna Miller&amp;#039;s case as the point at which News International looked again at its records, alerted police and the investigation began again. He notes News admitted liability to victims of phone hacking and has set up a compensation fund. &amp;quot;Those were the actions taken as soon as the new evidence emerged.&amp;quot; 14:39: James opens with an apology. Rupert Murdoch interrupts before he continues: &amp;quot;This is the most humble day of my life.&amp;quot; 14:38: James is up first. &amp;quot;You essentially admitted parliament had been misled,&amp;quot; Whittingdale says, asking to what extent parliament was misled and when he became aware of it. 14:37: &amp;quot;This is a special meeting of the culture, media and sport committee,&amp;quot; says Whittingdale. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s clear that parliament has been misled.&amp;quot; 14:36: James Murdoch is pleading to make an opening statement. Committee chair John Whittingdale isn&amp;#039;t keen. 14:30 (all times London): Welcome to Digital Spy&amp;#039;s live coverage of the unprecedented appearance by News Corp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. The triumvirate will spend three hours facing questions from MPs over the phone hacking scandal that has engulfed Rupert Murdoch&amp;#039;s business empire in Britain and, increasingly, America. Do tweet your thoughts @digitalspy as the hearing happens; join the conversation on the DS forums; and participate in the comments below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a330518/phone-hacking-rupert-and-james-murdoch-face-mps/>