Brooks Defends Paper's InvestigationsSpeaking to the Commons committee, Mr. Brooks, who was the editor of The News of the World in 2002, was asked about an incident that year, when her journalists reportedly hacked into the voice mail of a missing 13-year-old girl, Milly Dowler. The girl was later found murdered, but during the frantic search for her, News of the World journalists reportedly listened to her voice mails and deleted some of them to free up space so that more could be left.
Ms. Brooks insisted that she had no idea that Milly Dowler's voice mail was intercepted until it was first reported by The Guardian two weeks ago.
According to that Guardian article, Ms. Brooks must not have been reading her own newspaper closely at the time if she was unaware that her reporters had gained access to the missing girl's voice mail. Nick Davies and Amelia Hill reported:
The paper made little effort to conceal the hacking from its readers. On 14 April 2002 it published a story about a woman allegedly pretending to be Milly Dowler who had applied for a job with a recruitment agency: "It is thought the hoaxer even gave the agency Milly's real mobile number the agency used the number to contact Milly when a job vacancy arose and left a message on her voice mail it was on March 27, six days after Milly went missing, that the employment agency appears to have phoned her mobile."
The newspaper also made no effort to conceal its activity from Surrey police. After it had hacked the message from the recruitment agency on Milly's phone, the paper informed police about it.
Ms. Brooks told the committee she had no idea that Milly Dowler's voice mail had been hacked at the time.
Rebekah Brooks Up Next Before Commons CommitteeIn a few minutes, the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport will return to take evidence from Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, the British newspaper division of News Corporation, who was also the editor of The News of the World in 2002 when the voice mail of a missing 13-year-old girl was reportedly hacked.
After Attack, Hearing ResumesRupert Murdoch and his son James are back in front of the Commons committee on culture, media and sport and Louise Mensch, a Conservative member of Parliament, has resumed the questioning.
She begins by thanking the witnesses for returning after the hearing was "so rudely interrupted."
Ms. Mensch, who is married to the manager of the band Metallica, returned to the subject of the hacking of the phones of celebrities. She asked if James Murdoch has any knowledge of the allegation that Jude Law had his phone hacked while he was in the United States.
Man Rushed Murdoch With Shaving Cream PieCNN reports that a witness who was in the parliamentary committee room said that the man who rushed at Rupert Murdoch hit the media baron with a pie plate filled with shaving cream.
Hearing Suspended After DisturbanceThe parliamentary committee's hearing has been suspended after a disturbance of some sort, which happened off camera. As Louise Mensch, a Conservative member of Parliament, began to ask her questions, it appeared that someone moved towards Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch stood up, apparently to defend his father.
We will have more details as we get them. It appeared that if someone did try to get to Rupert Murdoch he was unharmed.
A few moments later, The BBC showed video of a man covered in what looked like the filling of a pie in the custody of a British police officer.
It also looked as if Rupert Murdoch's wife, Wendi, reached to hit the person who rushed at her husband.
Murdoch Invokes Expenses ScandalRupert Murdoch just steered the conversation to the importance of investigative journalism and a free press to a healthy society. He said that British society is healthier and more transparent as a result, even more so than American society.
He then brought up, as an example, the expenses scandal, which was revealed through leaked documents which were purchased by The Daily Telegraph. He added that in Singapore, legislators are paid huge sums of money and so are not reduced to corruption. In other words, he seems to have just suggested that the people asking him these questions should be given huge raises.
As a colleague points out, Singapore is not exactly a bastion of press freedom, so Mr. Murdoch's second point seems to undercut his first one.
Rupert Murdoch Asked if He Was 'Kept in the Dark'Asked if he was "kept in the dark" about the misconduct at The News of the World, Rupert Murdoch said that he might have failed to ask about what was happening, but would not normally pay that much attention to the British newspapers that make up just 1 percent of his company's business.
That seems at odds with his earlier statement that he makes frequent phone calls to the editors of those papers.
He also said that while he does not deal with every aspect of his company's operations, "Anything that is seen as a crisis comes to me."
James Murdoch suggests that delegating authority to managers of the newspapers is a normal business practice and is not the same as saying that anyone was "kept in the dark."
More on Private Investigator's Legal FeesWriting on Twitter, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, points out that another London newspaper, The Independent, reported last September that Glenn Mulcaire, the News of the World private investigator who was convicted for phone hacking in 2007, "received a settlement from [News International] after he sued for wrongful dismissal. It is also believe that part of his confidentiality agreement included an indemnity by the News of the World to pay his legal fees."
Rupert Murdoch's Prepared RemarksNews Corporation has related the complete text of the prepared opening statement Rupert Murdoch was not permitted to read at the start of the hearing. It reveals that his brief remark, "This is the most humble day of my life," was prepared -- although the written text has not "life" but "career."
Murdochs Refuse to Disclose Severence for BrooksThe Murdochs were asked to say how much Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton, two executives who resigned on Friday, have been paid for stepping down. Rupert Murdoch said that is "confidential."
James Murdoch 'Surprised' by Mulcaire and Goodman FeesJames Murdoch said that he was "very surprised" to learn that News International helped to pay legal fees for the two men convicted of phone hacking in 2007, Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator, and Clive Goodman, the former royal correspondent of The News of the World.
Murdoch Questioned on Conversations With EditorsAdrian Sanders concludes his questioning by asking James Murdoch if he is familiar with the term "willful blindness." The younger Mr. Murdoch said that he has not heard the phrase before. His father interjects to say that he has heard the expression and does not agree that his company was guilty of that.
Philip Davies, a Conservative member of Parliament, takes over the questioning. He asked Rupert Murdoch how often he spoke to the editors of his British newspapers. Mr. Murdoch said he spoke with them about once a week but always stressed to them that he was not telling them what to do.
Pressed about these conversations, Mr. Murdoch said he usually says something casual like, "what's doing?"
Mr. Davies then asked Mr. Murdoch if none of the editors of his papers ever told him about large payments to settle civil lawsuits over phone hacking.
James Murdoch Admits Paying to Conceal Illegal ActivityIn response to a question from Adrian Sanders, a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, James Murdoch said that even knowing what he knows now, he would still have agreed to settle a civil suit by one phone hacking victim, Gordon Taylor, a soccer union official, in 2009. Given a chance to do things again, though, he would also have begun an internal investigation and had the other victims contacted.
He also admits that he knew that the settlement was for illegal phone hacking by News of the World employees.
Rupert Murdoch Asked About Political InfluenceMr. Murdoch was asked if he got anything in return for supporting political parties in Britain by Jim Sheridan of the Scottish Labour Party. Mr. Sheridan asked Mr. Murdoch why he entered No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence, by the back door when he was invited there by David Cameron.
Mr. Murdoch said that he was asked to enter through that door to avoid photographers and did what he was told.
He also said that his newspaper's suffered the "direct loss" of 200,000 readers as a result of their decision to back Tony Blair's Labour Party in 1997.
A short time later, Mr. Murdoch said that he was not responsible for the phone hacking at his British newspaper company, telling the committee that he blamed "the people I trusted to run it and the people they trusted."
Mr. Murdoch also said that he had no knowledge about the allegation that News of the World journalists attempted to hack into the phones of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Rupert Murdoch Questioned About 'Criminality' at PapersMr. Watson asked Rupert Murdoch if he knew about a civil case in which Neville Thurlbeck, the former chief reporter of The News of the World who is now a suspect in the hacking investigation, was accused of blackmail.
Mr. Murdoch said that he never heard of Mr. Thurlbeck or the suit against him.
Mr. Watson asked Mr. Murdoch "at what point did you discover that criminality was endemic" at News International, the British newspaper division of News Corporation.
Mr. Murdoch replied that "endemic is a very hard word." He adds that he wants to be careful not to say anything that could compromise the criminal investigation now underway but insists that he was "absolutely shocked, appalled" to learn about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone. Milly was a 13-year-old girl who went missing in 2002 and was later found murdered. During the first days of the frantic search for her, it has now been reported that News of the World journalists hacked into her voice mail and deleted messages.
Rupert Murdoch Says He Knew Nothing of HackingIn response to questions from Tom Watson, a Labour Party member of Parliament, Rupert Murdoch appears to struggle to answer clearly. He seemed to move to a prepared statement that he is the chief executive of a company with 53,000 employees and so cannot by expected to know what all of them are doing. As he spoke, he slapped the table in front of him, and seemed to be struggling to recall prepared remarks.
As Mr. Watson continued to question the elder Mr. Murdoch, his son tried to answer more than once, but Mr. Watson said that he wanted answers from the News Corporation founder first. Mr. Murdoch, who is 80, appeared to have difficulty hearing the questions at some points, and paused before answering several times.
No Evidence Brooks Knew, Murdoch SaysJames Murdoch said that there is no evidence that there was any impropriety by Rebekah Brooks or Les Hinton in connection with the phone hacking investigation.
Murdochs Asked if Officials Lied to ParliamentThe committee's chairman, John Whittingdale, asked James Murdoch if any officials from News International, the British newspaper division of News Corporation, had lied to Parliament at previous hearings.
Mr. Murdoch said that senior executives at the company relied on investigations that indicated that phone hacking had been less widespread than is now known. He added that it is "a matter of deep frustration" that incorrect information was provided to the committee and this only became known to him during civil trials against the company by victims of phone hacking in 2010.
Murdoch Says: 'This is the Most Humble Day of My Life'After some protesters were removed from the hearing room, James Murdoch began by making what seems like a prepared statement anyway.
He was briefly interrupted by his father, who is sitting next to him. Rupert Murdoch placed his hand on his son's arm to stop him, and said, "I would just like to say one sentence: This is the most humble day of my life."
Hearing With Murdochs BeginsJames Murdoch asked to read an opening statement to the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport but John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman, said that time was too short to allow that. Mr. Murdoch asked if he could submit the written statement to the committee and was granted permission to do so.
As Mr. Whittigndale spoke, Rupert Murdoch leaned forward and put his hand behind his ear.
Yates Hearing Continues, Murdochs to Appear SoonOur live video feed of the hearing by the Commons select committee on home affairs has returned, above. In a few minutes, Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of their British newspaper division, will appear at another hearing, before the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport.
Mr. Yates is currently being pressed to explain why he spent just eight hours considering whether or not the investigation into phone hacking should be reopened in 2009. He said that he was "assured" that the prior investigation had been complete and, since there was no mention of new evidence in The Guardian's report on July 8, 2009, he had no reason to believe that a new investigation was necessary.
Yates Defends Role in Hiring of WallisMr. Yates told the committee that he did ask Neil Wallis, the former editor of News of the World who was later employed by Scotland Yard, if there was any possibility that reporting by Nick Davies of The Guardian would link Mr. Wallis to the phone hacking scandal. He said that Mr. Wallis assured him, in 2009, that there was no reason for concern and that he made a written note of that at the time.
He also insisted that, beyond this, he had not played a formal role in vetting Mr. Wallis and was not asked to perform "due diligence," before Mr. Wallis was offered a contract.
He also explained that while he and Mr. Wallis are friends, they usually meet just a few times a year, to attend sporting matches in the company of a larger group.
He also said, "I didn't have a scintilla of concern in 2009," about Mr. Wallis being connected in any way to the phone hacking scandal.
Mr. Yates was then asked if he had helped Mr. Wallis's daughter to get a job at Scotland Yard. He replied, "I was a post box for a CV, from Mr. Wallis's daughter." He said that he had merely passed her e-mail and a CV on to the Yard's personnel department, in January 2009, and expressed no interest in whether she got a job or not.
Unfortunately, our video feed above seems to have switched away from this hearing, in preparation for coverage of the day's other big hearing, featuring the Murdochs and Rebekah Brooks, which is scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes. This hearing is still being streamed live on The BBC News Web site.
John Yates Appears to TestifyDick Fedorcio's appearance just ended. John Yates, who resigned on Monday as the assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service and the country's most senior counterterrorism officer, is now before the committee.
He was asked why he resigned. He replied that, although he was sure that he had "done nothing wrong," he was so distracted by questions about phone hacking that he was not able to do his job properly.
Questions About Vetting of Former Tabloid EditorDick Fedorcio, the public affairs director, was asked to explain why he trusted the vetting of Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of
The News of the World, to John Yates, an assistant commissioner who was a personal friend of Mr. Yates.
Mr. Fedorcio said that he had no reason to doubt the integrity of Mr. Yates. He also said that he had chosen Mr. Yates to vet Mr. Wallis in part because Mr. Yates had looked into the phone hacking scandal at The News of the World.
Mr. Fedorcio was pressed by Nicola Blackwood to explain if he knew that Mr. Yates was friends with Mr. Wallis at the time. Mr. Fedorcio said that he did know that the two men were friends, but had total faith in Mr. Yates's integrity.
Earlier, Mr. Fedorcio said that the idea of hiring Mr. Wallis was suggested to him by someone else. A member of the committee asked if anyone from News International, like Rebekah Brooks, had made the suggestion. Mr. Fedorcio replied that it was not Ms. Brooks, but he could not recall who made the suggestion to him. He does not "believe," he said, that it was anyone from News International.
Questions for Scotland Yard's Public Affairs DirectorSir Paul's testimony has ended. Dick Fedorcio, the director of public affairs at the Metropolitan Police, is now appearing before the committee. He started by saying that he has just discovered that he has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over the hiring of Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of The News of the World, and has not yet had time to consult a lawyer about what he should say or not say.
The chairman of the committee, Keith Vaz, asked Mr. Fedorcio if he expects to be charged with any crime. Mr. Fedorcio replied that he did not expect to be charged. Mr. Vaz then told him that he should then have no reason not to answer the committee's questions.
Mr. Fedorcio said that he has known Mr. Wallis in a professional capacity since 1997, but they do not have a personal relationship.
He also said that John Yates, the assistant commissioner who was asked to vet Mr. Wallis, assured him that there would be no problem in hiring the former News of the World editor.
Ten Former News Corp. Journalists Worked at the YardSir Paul told the committee that ten former employees of News International, the British newspaper division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, have worked for Scotland Yard's press department. He seemed to have no details on the employment of those individuals, but Dick Fedorcio, the director of public affairs for the Metropolitan Police, is the next witness.
Why the Police Did Not Reopen the Investigation in 2009Sir Paul was pressed by several members of Parliament to explain why John Yates, his assistant commissioner, had decided so quickly that there was no reason to open a new investigation into phone hacking in 2009, after The Guardian first reported that misconduct at The News of the World was far more widespread than the 2006 investigation had suggested.
The committee members want to know why Mr. Yates might have gotten the impression that he was "perhaps only expected to do the minimum," review of the previous investigation. Sir Paul responded that he put no pressure on Mr. Yates to limit his review but adds that both men were satisifed that there was no need for an investigation because there was no "new and additional information." Neither man seems to have considered that the previous investigation might have overlooked evidence already in the hands of Scotland Yard.
On Stephenson's Meeting With The GuardianTwo Conservatives, Mark Reckless and James Clappison, pressed Sir Paul further on why he told
The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, in late 2009 to stop asking questions about the phone hacking investigation
Sir Paul said that, as far as he knew, there was no reason to doubt the original investigation. He added that he did not believe, and still does not believe, that there was ever any sort of police conspiracy to cover up the extent of the phone hacking.
Writing on Twitter, Mr. Rusbridger noted Sir Paul's comment that "There was absolutely no reason to think original probe wasn't success," and posted a link to this July 2009 article from The Guardian, on "on how the News of the World was involved in illegal activity, from intercepting phone messages to buying confidential personal data."
More Questions on Hiring of Former Tabloid EditorSir Paul was asked by David Winnick, a Labour member of Parliament, about the fact that Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor of The News of the World, was hired as a consultant by Scotland Yard in 2009, weeks after The Guardian reported that phone hacking had been far more widespread than the initial police investigation had suggested.
Mr. Winnick suggests that it was "amazing" that a senior editor of the tabloid newspaper was hired by the police so soon after questions were raised about the limited police investigation of wrongdoing at the newspaper.
Sir Paul said that he had no reason to believe that Mr. Wallis had been aware of phone hacking. He added that senior executives at News International, the British newspaper division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, had assured him that the misconduct at The News of the World had been carried out by just one reporter, without the knowledge of editors like Mr. Wallis.
Questions About Meals With News Corp. ExecutivesSir Paul was pressed to explain why he had so many lunches and dinners with executives from News Corporation's British newspaper division in recent years.
He replied that he thought it was necessary to meet with newspapers to make sure that Scotland Yard policies and investigations were properly understood. He added that he met with executives from other newspaper companies as well and it was not his fault that Rupert Murdoch's company was allowed to own such a large share of the British newspaper business.
Andrew Sparrow, writing on The Guardian's live blog, caught the statistics that Sir Paul offered in his won defense. The Scotland Yard chief said that 17 percent of his press contacts related to The News of the World and the paper had almost exactly that has percentage of the newspaper market. He also said that about 30 percent of his contacts were with editors or executives from the British newspaper division of News Corporation. Since, he said, that company's newspapers made up has 42 percent of the national readership, that percentage seemed appropriate.
Sir Paul was also asked about why he suggested during meetings with The Guardian's editors that the newspaper was giving too much coverage to phone hacking. He replied that he wanted to know why the paper was not accepting police assurances that there was no need for a new investigation.
Questions About a Luxury Spa StaySir Paul is now facing questions about the fact that he accepted a free stay worth $19,000 at Champneys, a luxury spa, earlier this year, where Neil Wallis, the former tabloid editor who was on contract at Scotland Yard, was a public-relations adviser.
He said that he "damnably unlucky" that, unbeknownst to him, Mr. Wallis was also employed by the spa.
Scotland Yard Chief Pressed on Hiring of Tabloid EditorThe chairman of the committee, Keith Vaz, asked Sir Paul to say if he had intended to take a swipe at Prime Minister David Cameron in his statement of resignation. He replied, "I was taking no such swipe at the prime minister," and said that his remarks, in which he compared Mr. Cameron's employment of Andy Coulson, a former editor of The News of the World, to Scotland Yard's hiring of a former depity editor of the same newspaper, Neil Wallis, had been misunderstood. He intended no slight, he said.
On the subject of Mr. Wallis, who was hired in 2009 as a communications adviser for Scotland Yard after he left The News of the World, Sir Paul called it a "very minor and part-time" role.
Sir Paul adds that the first time he had any idea that Mr. Wallis was connected to the investigation of phone hacking at The News of the World was in January of this year, when he read about it in the press.
Live Video of Scotland Yard Chief Before ParliamentSir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police commissioner who remains in his post for the moment, has started to give evidence to the Commons committee with oversight for home affairs. Readers can watch live video of his testimony, from the Channel 4 News Web site, at the top of this blog post.
Sir Paul began by reiterating that, as he said in his resignation statement, he was stepping aside to make sure that his force's ability to provide security for the 2012 Olympics in London was unhindered.
Parliamentary Hearings on Phone HackingSir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police commissioner who announced his resignation over the phone-hacking scandal on Sunday night, is scheduled to appear before the Commons select committee on home affairs starting at noon in London, which is 7 a.m. here in New York. He will be followed by John Yates, his assistant commissioner, who also resigned on Monday. Readers can follow live video of the hearing, from the Channel 4 News Web site, at the top of this blog post. Live streams are also available on the British Parliament's Web site or on the BBC News live blog. The Lede will provide frequent updates here.
Later in the day, Rupert Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News Corporation's British newspaper division will appear before another parliamentary panel to answer questions on the scandal.