James Murdoch: I didn’t see memos describing widespread phone hacking

The New York Times | paidContent.org
In testimony before a U.K. parliamentary committee Thursday, James Murdoch is sticking by his earlier statements that he didn’t know about widespread illegal and unethical activity at the now-closed News of the World tabloid. “Mr. Murdoch seemed combative and self-assured, repeatedly denying that he had been given evidence of ‘wider spread phone hacking’ at a crucial meeting in 2008,” The New York Times reports. Since Murdoch testified in July, others have contradicted his account, and documents have been released that describe a “culture of illegal information access.” Murdoch said Thursday that no one showed him those documents and that he wasn’t told of incriminating evidence: “The meeting, which I remember quite well, was a short meeting, and I was given at that meeting sufficient information to authorize the increase of the settlement offers that had been made. … But I was given no more than that,” he said, according to the Times. Murdoch also told the committee that he would not rule out closing The Sun if there was evidence of phone-hacking there. PaidContent has outtakes from the hearing; the Guardian blogged Murdoch’s testimony and reaction. || Related: Private investigators for News of the World tracked lawyers for hacking victims || Earlier: News Corp. scandal broadens with arrest of The Sun reporter for bribery