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| Rupert Murdoch at the Leveson Inquiry |
RUPERT Murdoch has told the Leveson Inquiry today that News International bosses fell victim to a "cover-up" over the hacking scandal.
Mr Murdoch is referring directly to my statement to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. * See link below.
Murdoch claimed senior executives were not informed, or misinformed, and "shielded" from what was going on.
He said: "I blame one or two people for that, who perhaps I shouldn't name because for all I know they may be arrested yet."
"But there is no question in my mind that maybe even the editor, but certainly behind that, someone took charge of a cover-up which we were victim to and I regret."
Asked by counsel to the inquiry Robert Jay QC where the "cover-up" emanated from, the tycoon replied: "I think from within the News of the World. There were one or two very strong characters there who I think had been there many, many years and were friends of the journalists.
"The person I am thinking of was a friend of the journalists, drinking pal, and was a clever lawyer and forbade them to go and see the evidence, or there have been statements reporting that this person forbade people to go and report to Mrs Brooks or James (Murdoch).
"That is not to excuse it on our behalf at all, I take it extremely seriously that that situation had arisen."
Mr Murdoch does not make mention that one of the people who shielded Rebekah Brooks from my evidence which would have cleared me, is still serving at News International and is named in my CMS Committee statement.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/committee-publishes-further-evidence-on-phone-hacking/
I’m grateful my message has eventually reached the man that matters most at News Corporation. I tried and failed to get it across while at the News of the World. It has finally got there after shouting it from the wilderness.
Whilst not sharing the politics of Enoch Powell, I’m inclined to share with you my favourite quote of his, which he gave after being kicked into the political wilderness by Ted Heath in 1968.
“Wildernesses are good places I notice, for voices, they tend to get to a reverberation which is often lost in the more crowded places.”
* The cover-up at the News of the World led directly to my dismissal because the paper's executives failed to pass my information onto News International. In the absence of the material which would have exonerated me on the Gordon Taylor phone hacking, News International terminated my employment.
Rupert Murdoch's admission that this cover-up took place takes us a step closer to resolution.
* The cover-up at the News of the World led directly to my dismissal because the paper's executives failed to pass my information onto News International. In the absence of the material which would have exonerated me on the Gordon Taylor phone hacking, News International terminated my employment.
Rupert Murdoch's admission that this cover-up took place takes us a step closer to resolution.
What I don't understand is why this individual, who remains at NI, hasn't been either arrested or fired. Presumably you're wondering that yourself!
ReplyDeleteBut while I appreciate you're writing carefully because of the workings of law, is there any way you can (legally) expand on this?