'We are sorry'
July 16, 2011
News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch issued a public apology for Britain's phone-hacking scandal on Saturday, July 16, a day after two of his top executives resigned over the crisis.
In an apparent turnabout from his previously defiant stance, Murdoch ran full-page ads in seven national British newspapers on Saturday.
"We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred," Murdoch said in the add. "We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected. We regret not acting faster to sort things out."
In a further show of contrition, Murdoch also met with the parents of slain 13-year-old Milly Dowler, whose phone was allegedly hacked by News of the World in 2002.
"As founder of the company, I was appalled to find out what had happened and I have apologized," Murdoch told reporters after the meeting on Friday.
News International, the British subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp media empire, is accused of hacking into the phones of up to 4,000 people, including family's of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and the victims of terrorist attacks.
Top lieutenants resign
The scandal took several new twists in recent days, with Murdoch's British Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton, the top executive of Murdoch's Dow Jones & Co, resigning within hours of each other on Friday.
Brooks, who acted as editor of the News of the World tabloid from 2000-2003, when Dowler's phone was allegedly hacked, has denied any personal wrongdoing. But after widespread calls for her to step down, she announced her resignation on Friday, saying she felt her earlier choice to stay was "detracting attention from all our honest endeavors to fix the problems of the past."
Shortly after Brooks left, Hinton tendered his resignation, saying that, although he was unaware of the eavesdropping, as News International's chairman from 1995 to 2007, he had to take responsibility for the "unimaginable" pain the organization caused.
"That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp and apologize to those hurt by the actions of News of the World," Hinton said.
In a memo to Dow Jones' staff, Murdoch said he accepted Hinton's resignation with the "heaviest of hearts.“
Mounting accusations
Murdoch's acts of contrition have not stopped mounting accusations against his publications.
On Friday, actor Jude Law announcing he intended to sue Murdoch-owned daily The Sun for hacking his phone in 2005 and 2006.
News International has written off the claims, calling them "a deeply cynical and deliberately mischievous attempt to draw The Sun into the phone-hacking issue." Law is already suing the News of the World title, which Murdoch shut down last week.
Rupert Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, are set to face a parliamentary hearing on the scandal Tuesday along with Brooks. Murdoch's News Corp is also under investigation by the FBI over claims Murdoch's American employees tapped into the voicemail of 9/11 terrorism victims.
Author: David Levitz (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Toma Tasovac