Rupert Murdoch confesses phone hacking ‘cover up,’ apologizes

Rupert Murdoch confessed that there had been a “cover-up” of phone hacking at his flagship British tabloid newspaper and apologized on Thursday for not paying more attention to a scandal that has shook his media empire and rocked the British political establishment. Murdoch admitted that he had shut down the best-selling News of the World out of “panic” in the heat of public fury about the revelation that a murdered 13-year-old girl had been a victim of phone hacking. Murdoch, who is the owner of the Sun and the Times in London, as well as controller of the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Fox News, said his News Corp. had been a victim of the cover-up, not the perpetrator.

At the Leveson Inquiry, an independent British inquiry prompted by illegal eavesdropping by his newspaper, Murdoch said, “Someone took charge of a cover-up, which we were victim to and I regret.” Murdoch blamed “one or two very strong individuals” at the paper, but did not name them. “I also have to say that I failed,” he said. “And I am very sorry for it.” The phone hacking scandal has forced News Corp. to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to the victims of phone hacking. Murdoch, as well as his son James Murdoch, have been hammered over the past year about what they knew about phone hacking by their employees. The men have always denied knowledge about the scale of phone hacking, which authorities say could have affected thousands of people, ranging from celebrities and politicians, to crime victims and war veterans. “This whole business is a serious blot on my reputation,” said Rupert Murdoch.