Phone Hacking Scandal News Update of the Day

What You Need To Know:

• Main Event: Rupert Murdoch and his son James testify before the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport; the Murdochs apologize to phone hacking victims in opening statement they weren’t allowed to read; Rupert Murdoch calls today “the most humble day of my career” (see video below), but refuses to accept responsibility for scandal; Murdoch says he “seldom” speaks with his editors, isn’t very involved, but has no plans to resign; News International’s legal fee aid to convicted phone hackers Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire,alleged to be hush money, surprises James Murdoch; are Glenn Mulcaire’s legal fees still being paid? Possibly; James Murdoch admits paying to settle out of court with phone hacking victim Gordon Taylor, stands by his decision; Rupert Murdoch says PM Cameron invited him to Downing Street to thank him after election, asked him to use back door.
• From Rebekah Brooks’ testimony: The former News of the Worldeditor and News International chief executive “clarified” her 2003 statement on having “paid the police for information,” saying she never “knowingly” sanctioned payments to police for information, but “was referring to various crime editors on Fleet Street discussing payments to police officers”; claims to have had no knowledge of Milly Dowler phone hack until two weeks ago (despite strong evidence suggesting otherwise); said the use of private investigators was/is widespread in the British newspaper industry.
• From earlier testimonies: Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Paul Stephenson: “Damnably unlucky” that former News of the Worldexecutive editor Neil Wallis worked for spa; former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner John Yates: received “categorical assurances” on potential embarrassments before hiring Wallis. (The Guardianreported today that, according to a Tory Party statement, Wallis provided “informal advice” to PM Cameron’s former communications director Andy Coulson prior to last year’s election.)
Further Reading:
• Elsewhere: A misrepresentation of a passage from CNN host Piers Morgan’s book The Insider by Conservative MP Louise Mensch during Brooks’ testimony suggests that Morgan admitted to phone hacking; Morgan took to Twitter to blast Mensch: “She clearly hasn’t read my book.”
• #humblepie: Rupert Murdoch gets a face full of shaving foam during his testimony, courtesy of comedian Jonnie Marbles; James Wolcott is not amused: “this guy has made Murdoch senior look vulnerable and sympathetic and Wendi heroic. Well done, fool“; Related: Wendi Deng’s Five Best Enraged Expressions.
• Counter-Hacking: LulzSec: We have a large cache of News Corp. emails, will be releasing them tomorrow; Sabu: “New York Times, Forbes, LA Times, we’re going in“; how LulzSec hacked The Sun‘s website.
• Misc: Interactive Infographic: Phone-hacking scandal: Who’s who;Mad Magazine: Rupert Murdoch’s Apology Letter.