Characterized as something of a tossup between an inept Mafia Don and a morally bankrupt enabler, James Murdoch went again before the Parliamentary committee investigating charges of phone hacking at the defunct News Of The World today. Not expecting any revelations, the committee pressed forward on contradictory testimony given by Murdoch previously with regards to settlement payments to phone hacking victims.
The biggest bone of contention centered around the now infamous "For Neville" e-mail which outlined widespread phone hacking within the News Of the World organization and whether Murdoch knew and didn't care or really didn't know and was therefore inept at running a company of that size. Murdoch rejected Labour MP Tom Watson's assertion that News Of the World had adopted a Mafia "Omerta" code of silence with regards to the practice.
The "stuck between a rock and a hard place" scenario had many wondering just how this testimony would go. But after 2 1/2 hours of grilling and testimony, the committee were left with probably more questions than answers and no doubt many more months of investigating to lie ahead with new revelations just around the corner.
At last count, there were some 300 million (yes, Million) e-mails Scotland yard was sifting through involving some 5,700 people who were believed to be hacked. At present, only 600 victims have been interviewed.
Needless to say - the legs on this story aren't getting any shorter. Although it isn't believed there will be any more public hearings after today.
Here is a wrapup of the days hearings via BBC Radio 4's PM Program which ran at 5:00 pm in London (9:00 am Los Angeles time).
