Murdoch unfit to lead, say UK lawmakers

News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch must take responsibility for serious failings that caused Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal, lawmakers said Tuesday in a scathing report, as a narrow majority also insisted the tycoon was unfit to lead his global media empire.

In a report on malpractice at Murdoch's now shuttered News of The World tabloid, legislators accused Murdoch and his son James of overseeing a corporate culture which sought "to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing.''

Parliament's cross-party Culture, Media and Sport committee unanimously agreed that three key News International executives had misled Parliament by offering false accounts of their knowledge of the extent of hacking.

The panel said the House of Commons would decide on the punishment meted out to the three executives: New York Daily News editor Colin Myler, an ex-News of The World editor, the British tabloid's longtime lawyer Tom Crone and Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International and the former publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Members of the panel said the 81-year-old Rupert Murdoch had insisted he was unaware that hacking was widespread at the News of The World, blaming his staff for keeping him in the dark. That explanation was not accepted. The legislators said if that was true, "he turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies.''

In a ruling opposed by 4 of the 11-member committee — all Conservatives — the panel cast serious doubt on Murdoch's credentials as an executive. "We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company,'' the report said.

Conservative panel member Philip Davies said the conclusion was "not only over the top, but ludicrous.''

Legislators agreed that Murdoch's 39-year-old son James, a former News International executive chairman, was also badly at fault over the scandal. "As the head of a journalistic enterprise, we are astonished that James Murdoch did not seek more information,'' legislators wrote.

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