News International Offers Dead Girl's Family $4.7M

Money will go to Milly Dowler's family, charity

(NEWSER) - As the phone hacking controversy rages on , News Corp has reached a settlement with the family of a murdered girl at the center of the case, Bloomberg reports. In keeping with an offer last month , the company’s British branch is paying Milly Dowler’s family about $3.2 million, with the rest of the $4.8 million settlement going to a charity, News International announced today. News of the World was accused of hacking the girl’s phone messages. More»

He asks British inquiry for proof of any wrongdoing in US

(NEWSER) - Sen. Jay Rockefeller has stepped up his efforts to find out if Rupert Murdoch's News Corp broke American laws in the British phone-hacking scandal. The West Virginia Democrat, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has asked Lord Leveson, head of the British inquiry into the scandal, to turn over any evidence that News Corp or News International employees broke US laws by bribing foreign officials or tapping phones in the US, reports the Washington Post . More»

Committee's decision could force Murdoch to sell off BSkyB stake

(NEWSER) - A group of British lawmakers has concluded that Rupert Murdoch is not fit to lead his own media empire: Parliament's Culture, Media, and Sport Committee released a report the AP calls "scathing," accusing Murdoch of misleading Parliament about the extent of the phone hacking scandal at his News of the World. The report also claims that News International, the British newspaper arm of News Corp., covered up the scandal. More»

News Corp mogul continues Leveson testimony

(NEWSER) - Rupert Murdoch apologized today over the News of the World hacking scandal, admitting "I failed." He said he didn't pay enough attention to the tabloid, calling that lack of attention "an omission by me" during his second day of testimony at the Leveson inquiry into media ethics. "I am very sorry about it," he added, particularly to the "innocent people … who lost their jobs" as a result. He also suggested employees at the tabloid had attempted to cover up the extent of the scandal, and blamed subordinates for not telling him what was going on, the New York Times reports. More»

Leveson inquiry gets interesting

(NEWSER) - Rupert Murdoch is appearing before Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry into media ethics today, and in the absence of pies , we'll just give you the more colorful bits. (Click to see what son James said yesterday .)

• A lunch meeting Murdoch had with then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher—in 1981—came up for discussion, and Murdoch insisted he has "never asked a prime minister for anything" and that Thatcher didn't offer him any favors, nor did he attempt to influence her.
• Asked if he ever told Tony Blair, "If our flirtation is ever consummated Tony, I suspect we will end up making love like porcupines very, very carefully," Murdoch admitted—to laughter—that he did.
• Murdoch had his favorites: He "never much interfered" with the News of the World, and he "was always closer to the Sun. If you want to judge my thinking, look at the Sun."