Murdoch ‘not a fit person’ to lead News Corp

But the committee was split six to four with Tory members refusing to endorse the report and branding it “partisan”.
Conservative Louise Mensch called it “a real great shame” that the report’s credibility had potentially been “damaged” as a result, with the report carried by Labour and Liberal Democrat members backing it. News Corp said in a statement it was “carefully reviewing” the report and would “respond shortly”, adding: “The company fully acknowledges significant wrongdoing at News of the World and apologises to everyone whose privacy was invaded.”
The BBC News Channel’s chief political correspondent Norman Smith said the report was much more damning than had been anticipated. He said the ‘crunch’ statement was that Rupert Murdoch was “not a fit person” , adding: “This is a blow to the very heart of the Murdoch empire. They are questioning his integrity, his honesty.”
The committee of MPs began its inquiry in July 2011 in the wake of fresh revelations about the extent of hacking at the tabloid newspaper, with reported victims including the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the families of victims of the 7/7 London bombings.
It heard evidence from Murdoch and his son James, and has now concluded that the notion that a hands-on proprietor like Rupert Murdoch had “no inkling” that wrongdoing was widespread at the News of the World was “simply not credible”.
It noted that the newspaper mogul had “excellent powers of recall and grasp of detail when it suited him”, and added: “On the basis of the facts and evidence before the committee, we conclude that, if at all relevant times Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications.”
Tory MPs objected specifically to the line branding Mr Murdoch “not fit”, with one, Philip Davies, telling a press conference the committee had seen “absolutely no evidence” to endorse such a “completely ludicrous” conclusion. But Labour MP Tom Watson said “more than any individual alive”, Murdoch was to blame for phone hacking, and it was right to “raise the bar” of the report and make that clear.
The committee also criticised three former News International executives — one-time executive chairman Les Hinton, former News of the World editor Colin Myler and former legal manager Tom Crone.
Myler and Crone misled the committee over their knowledge that other staff were involved in phone hacking, the MPs said.
News Corp as a whole was guilty of “huge failings of corporate governance” and, throughout, its instinct had been “to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators”, the committee said. — bbc.co.uk