LONDON — Here are key points that Rupert Murdoch and his son James made during their testimony before lawmakers investigating the phone hacking scandal that has convulsed Britain’s public life and threatened the mogul’s media empire.
1. We’ve done nothing wrong.
Both Murdochs apologized for the phone hacking that went on at the News of the World — but as far as they were concerned, they were entirely innocent.
Near the end of the hearing, James Murdoch was asked whether he understood the words: “willful blindness.”
James was coy, asking for a detailed explanation of the term and then saying he didn’t follow the question. Rupert interjected, saying that he’d “heard the phrase before, and we were not ever guilty of that.”
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2. Father wasn’t in the loop.
The famously hands-on Rupert repeatedly batted away questions about operations at the News of the World by saying he didn’t know what was going on.
“The News of the World is less than 1 percent of our company,” Murdoch said. “I employ 53,000 people around the world. ... I’m spread watching and appointing people whom I trust to run those divisions.”
Later, Murdoch said he spoke to the editor of the News of the World only around once a month — adding that he had been focusing most of his attention on papers like The Wall Street Journal or The Sunday Times.
“The News of the World, perhaps I lost sight of,” he said. “Maybe because it was so small in the general frame of our company.”
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