Phone hacking victims say News Corp. has admitted coverup

Reuters | Guardian
In announcing a number of settlements with the British newspaper unit of News Corp. on Thursday, lawyers for phone hacking victims said senior employees and directors of News Group Newspapers “knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence.” The lawyers said the company has turned over documents that show a coverup and the destruction of email and evidence. The statement doesn’t name James Murdoch, notes the Guardian’s David Leigh, but he was chairman of the board for News Group Newspapers. The Guardian’s tally of the settlements: £645,000 (nearly $1 million) in damages to 15 victims of phone hacking, and additional “substantial” payments for three more cases, plus legal fees. || Related: Prior coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal