UPDATE: News Corp Says Rupert Murdoch Accepts Invitation To Appear Before UK Parliament To Discuss Secret Tape
UPDATE, 2:30 PM: It looks like the UK Parliament’s committee will get its wish. A News Corp spokesman has said Rupert Murdoch will accept their invitation. “Mr Murdoch welcomes the opportunity to return to the select committee and answer their questions. He looks forward to clearing up any misconceptions as soon as possible.”
PREVIOUS, 10:46 AM: The secret recording of Rupert Murdoch addressing Sun staffers at a meeting last March has incited Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee to extend an invitation to the News Corp chief. “We’re inviting him to return to give evidence,” a spokesperson tells Deadline, and “to discuss” the “supposedly secretly recorded set of comments.” Those comments included Murdoch talking about his company’s handling of bribery and hacking charges. Any evidentiary hearing before the committee would be an official one, but there’s an interesting aspect to the panel’s wording: Murdoch is being invited, not compelled, to appear. Conversely, Murdoch was indeed summoned in July 2011 when the News Of The World hacking scandal was blowing wide open. Still, if Murdoch accepts the invitation, it is unlikely he would appear anytime soon. The House of Commons is about to go into summer recess until September when it reconvenes for two weeks and then closes down again for three weeks before opening again in October. I’m told it would be a “safe assumption” that there will be no further movement until the fall. That’s not to say a police investigation would move as slowly. Per the BBC, the Metropolitan Police have now said the force is seeking a court order to recover the tape of the mogul’s comments which Exaro News first made public in conjunction with Channel 4 News.
Related: Secret Tape Shows Rupert Murdoch Acknowledging UK Bribery
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