News International executives: The report's verdicts

 
1 May 2012

TOM CRONE

‘Untrue’ assurances

The former top lawyer at the News of the World was blamed by Rupert Murdoch for the “cover-up” at the Sunday tabloid, an allegation he rejects as a lie. But the MPs delivered a scathing assessment of his role in the scandal, accusing him of misleading them by sticking to the “rogue reporter” defence, over the pay-out to footballers’ boss Gordon Taylor and that he sought to mislead the committee about the commissioning of surveillance.

They also challenged his evidence over the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone. On Mr Crone, the committee said he “gave repeated assurances that there was no evidence that any further News of the World employee, beyond Clive Goodman, had been involved in phone hacking. This was not true... and they would have known this was untrue.”

COLIN MYLER

‘Answered falsely’

MPs were damning in their verdict on the former News of the World editor, who now edits the New York Daily News. They said it was simply “not true” that, as he claimed, there was no evidence that more than one employee had been involved in phone hacking. Myler and lawyer

Tom Crone “deliberately avoided disclosing crucial information”, and when asked to do so “answered questions falsely”, says the report. The pair have claimed James Murdoch should have known about the crucial “For Neville” email, but MPs could not reach a conclusion on this. Today Myler said he stood by his evidence.

LES HINTON

‘Complicit in cover-up’

Former chairman of News International and one of Rupert Murdoch’s longest-serving lieutenants, he was “complicit” in the cover-up of phone hacking, the MPs concluded. He was heavily criticised for misleading MPs on payments to News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and on his knowledge of the scale of hacking at the tabloid. The MPs highlighted that when Mr Hinton, who now lives in America, gave evidence in 2009 he said he “did not know, could not recall, did not remember or was not familiar with the events under scrutiny a total of 72 times”.

JAMES MURDOCH

‘Wilful ignorance’

The former News International chairman and chief executive was found to be incompetent rather than a liar. The report criticised his protests that he was kept in the dark. He demonstrated “wilful ignorance” about what had gone on, said the MPs, who added his failure to find out “clearly raises questions of competence” on his part.

“As the head of a journalistic enterprise, we are astonished that James Murdoch did not seek more information or ask to see the evidence and counsel’s opinion when he was briefed by Tom Crone and Colin Myler on the Gordon Taylor case,” it said. It seemed “extraordinary” that he claimed to have written a £700,000 pay-off for soccer boss Mr Taylor without asking more questions.

RUPERT MURDOCH

‘Ineffective governance’

The MPs accused the media baron, 81, of “wilful blindness” to evidence of criminal wrongdoing and failing to exercise “effective corporate governance”. To his claim that the News of the World amounted to “less than one per cent” of his worldwide companies, the MPs retorted: “This self-portrayal as a hands-off proprietor is entirely at odds with numerous other accounts”, including the fact that he spoke to ex-editor Rebekah Brooks every day. Its most explosive verdict — that he is not “a fit person” to run a corporation — split the committee along party lines.

THE COVER-UP

‘Huge failings’

The MPs’ findings of corporate failures at News International and News Corporation are a huge blow to Rupert Murdoch.

The media baron told the Leveson Inquiry that his most senior executives, including his son James and protege Rebekah Brooks, had been victims of a “cover-up”.

But the MPs concluded: “Even if there were a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ culture at News International, the whole affair demonstrates huge failings of corporate governance at the company and its parent, News Corporation.”

The MPs said that senior figures including Mr Myler and Mr Crone “cannot be allowed to carry the whole blame”.

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