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LIVE: Murdoch faces more phone-hacking interrogation
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CBC News-
James Murdoch, the embattled News International executive facing mounting evidence that he knew about illegal phone hacking yet allowed it to persist at The News of the World, returned Thursday for more scrutiny before British Parliament.
Murdoch began his second round of testimony at 11 a.m. London time (6 a.m. ET).
The hearing before the select Commons culture committee will focus on whether Murdoch, who serves as deputy chief operating officer of the U.K. publishing division of News Corp., lied in July when he told parliamentary investigators he had no knowledge of the pervasive culture of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World.
Murdoch is also the son of the news conglomerate's 80-year-old chairman, Rupert Murdoch.
Thursday's grilling comes after the younger Murdoch gave potentially credibility-damning testimony that clashed with the accounts of two key former executives.
Former News of the World editor Colin Myler told MPs in September that Murdoch was not telling the truth by denying that he was made aware of an email marked "for Neville." The note, which provided proof that hacking was widespread, contained transcripts of stolen voicemail messages written by a News of the World reporter and apparently sent to senior journalist Neville Thurlbeck.
The assertion was backed up by Tom Crone, the newspaper's former legal affairs manager, who also told MPs in September: "I told [Murdoch] about the document."
On Thursday, Murdoch repeated his earlier testimony regarding the email, saying, "I want to be very clear, no documents were shown to me at that meeting or given to me at that meeting at any time."
There are also other allegations that have emerged since Murdoch last appeared — among them that News Corp. put under surveillance two lawyers who were suing the News of the World for hacking, looking for personal dirt to use against them.
A private investigator also revealed he had been hired by News Corp. to spy on Prince William and other celebrities.
"What I expect to happen is that James will acknowledge that mistakes have been made, probably even apologize to the committee," said Paul Connew, a media commentator and former tabloid editor.
Special 'hub' phone
Murdoch might acknowledge that "perhaps he wasn't as proactive as he should've been," although he warned that there was a limit to how far any mea culpa could go.
"What I think he won't do — can't afford to do — is accept that he deliberately misled parliament," Connew said.
In late October, the Independent newspaper in London reported that, far from being a secret at News of the World, a special cellphone known as "the hub" and devoted to phone-hacking was kept at the paper's news desk.
"Despite detailed company logs recording every call made on the hub phone, it was left unexamined by two internal News International inquiries, which dismissed the notion that phone hacking was rife at the title," the Independent said.
Specialist detectives from London's Metropolitan Police found that the hub phone was registered to News International and used illegally to access 1,150 numbers between 2004 and 2006, the paper said.
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