Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son James backed down in the face of threats of jail from British legislators on Thursday and agreed to testify to a parliamentary committee on the phone-hacking scandal.
In another dramatic day in the saga that has killed off the News of the World tabloid and wrecked Mr Murdoch’s take-over bid for pay-TV giant BSkyB, the Murdochs reversed their earlier refusal to give evidence to MPs on Tuesday.
The police also arrested Neil Wallis, a former News of the World executive, but were later forced to admit that Scotland Yard itself had previously employed him as an advisor, raising fresh concerns about police corruption in the case.
The Murdochs’ climbdown came only five hours after Parliament’s media select committee summoned them to attend, having received letters from the pair saying they were “unable” to attend.
That left Rebekah Brooks a former editor of the News of the World from 2000-2003, to appear by herself before the committee.
A spokeswoman for Murdoch’s News Corp. later said: “News Corp. can confirm that we are in the process of writing to the select committee with the intention that James Murd-och and Rupert Murdoch will both attend on Tuesday.” —AFP