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James Murdoch Recalled By British Parliament

James Murdoch gesturing as he leaves his father Rupert Murdoch's residence in central London in July.
Sang Tan
/
AP
James Murdoch gesturing as he leaves his father Rupert Murdoch's residence in central London in July.

James Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer and the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, will face a second round of grilling from the British Parliament.

If you remember, News Corp. has been under fire in Britain over revelations that the now-closed News of the World tabloid had hacked the phones of public and private figures.

The AP reports:

The committee of lawmakers investigating the scandal hopes to tie up "one or two loose ends" by recalling the younger Murdoch, committee Chairman John Whittingdale said Tuesday. But the committee said News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch — who appeared alongside his son at a July 19 U.K. hearing that was televised around the world — was not being recalled.

The two Murdochs gave a dramatic performance earlier this summer, apologizing for a scandal that has shaken Britain's establishment but refusing to accept responsibility for the illegal behavior which happened at newspapers under their watch.

Ex-News Corp. employees have cast doubt on several claims made by the father-and-son media magnates.

The latest doubt came in testimony before Parliament when, as we reported, "two of James Murdoch's top executives contradicted [Murdoch's testimony] saying they had presented evidence to him much earlier during a meeting that implicated others beyond Clive Goodman, a royal reporter convicted over the practice."

The Wall Street Journal, who's parent company is owned by News Corp., reports the Culture, Media and Sport committee also recalled Les Hinton, "the one-time head of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper unit who later served as chief executive of its Dow Jones & Co. unit before resigning in July amid the phone-hacking scandal."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.