U.K. Broadcaster Says Murdoch Criticized Hacking Investigators

Source: New York Times

U.K. Broadcaster Says Murdoch Criticized Hacking Investigators
By ALAN COWELL
Published: July 4, 2013

LONDON — Embroiled in inquiries into the behavior of journalists and executives working for his newspapers here, the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch faced new questions on Thursday after a television channel broadcast what appeared to be a clandestine recording of him criticizing the police investigation of Britain’s phone-hacking scandal as “totally incompetent.”

Since July 2011, Mr. Murdoch’s newspaper outpost in Britain has been under close scrutiny by Parliament, by a separate judicial inquiry and by the police investigating accusations of illicit phone tapping, corruption and other misbehavior, particularly at The News of the World, a now-shuttered Sunday tabloid. Scores of former Murdoch employees have been arrested as the scandal raised questions about hidden ties among the press, the police and the political elite

In the recording, apparently made in March during a meeting with journalists at Mr. Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun, Mr. Murdoch is heard saying: “Still, I mean, it’s a disgrace. Here we are, two years later, and the cops are totally incompetent.”
“The idea that the cops then started coming after you, kick you out of bed, and your families, at six in the morning, is unbelievable,” he said.

Channel 4 News said the recording had been obtained by an investigative Web site called Exaro. The channel said the tone of the remarks seemed markedly at odds with Mr. Murdoch’s public insistence that he felt “humbled” by the hacking scandal.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/world/europe/uk-broadcaster-says-murdoch-criticized-hacking-investigators.html?_r=0