RUPERT Murdoch's claim that he turned down tickets from Alex Salmond for the acclaimed Black Watch theatre production in New York have been disputed by the theatre company behind it.
The News International chief executive was asked at the Leveson Inquiry on Wednesday whether he had accepted four places offered by the First Minister to see the show at St Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn in 2007.
Murdoch responded by saying "I'm afraid not" when asked by QC Robert Jay if he had attended.
But last night, it emerged the theatre company, which is funded by the Scottish Government, said it was their "understanding" the tycoon was in the audience of the hugely successful play about the Scottish regiment in Iraq.
It said in a statement: "The National Theatre of Scotland was asked by the Scottish Government in late autumn 2007 to make available four tickets for Rupert Murdoch to attend a performance of the company's production of Black Watch during its run at St Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. These tickets were provided for a performance on 3rd November, 2007.
"It is the National Theatre of Scotland's understanding that Mr Murdoch did attend."
At the inquiry, Mr Murdoch was questioned about a letter sent to him by Mr Salmond on 31 October, 2007.
"He writes to you again on 31 October - inviting you to go to see a play called 'Black Watch' in New York, but warning you that it's quite challenging: 'A rough, tough production.' Did you go and see that play?" Mr Murdoch said: "I'm afraid not."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article