JAMES Murdoch will be grilled by MPs over phone hacking next month it was announced.
The news came after Mr Murdoch’s predecessor, Les Hinton, admitted politicians had been told “inaccuracies”.
It will be the second appearance before MPs for Rupert Murdoch’s son.
They want to question the News International executive chairman about what he knew about practices at his company’s newspapers, including the now-defunct News of the World.
The announcement was made after Les Hinton was questioned by video-link by the cross-party Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
Mr Hinton, the most senior casualty of the hacking scandal so far, told MPs there was “no reason” why Mr Murdoch should resign from his post. Mr Hinton himself left the company in July as the scale of hacking, which took place under his watch, became apparent.
He acknowledged that some of the evidence previously given to the committee by New International executives, when they insisted that hacking at the Sunday tabloid was limited to a single rogue reporter, had turned out to be “not accurate”.
However, he challenged MPs’ suggestions that this meant executives had been “untruthful”.
Events had become clear only over the past couple of years, he said, and the full picture of what happened was still unknown.
James Murdoch took over his job in 2007 when Mr Hinton moved to the US to head the Dow Jones operation.
The bulk of alleged phone-hacking is believed to have happened during Mr Hinton’s time in charge.
However, the £425,000 out-of-court payment to Professional Footballers’ Association chief Gordon Taylor took place after he had left.
MPs believe the settlement is crucial because it was sparked by the emergence of the so-called “for Neville” email, which proved that hacking went beyond a single reporter.
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