James Murdoch is stepping down as executive chairman of News International, News Corp.’s U.K. newspaper unit. He had held the post since March 2011.
Murdoch will retain his title as deputy chief operating officer of News Corp. His father, News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, announced that James will handle “essential corporate leadership mandates” focusing on the company’s pay television businesses and international operations,
Bloomberg reported.
James Murdoch has moved his office to News Corp.’s headquarters.
In July, James Murdoch relinquished his post as News International CEO after reports surfaced that journalists at News Corp.’s U.K. tabloids intercepted voice mails from a variety of individuals. James and Rupert Murdoch have appeared before Parliament to answer questions about how much they knew about the phone hacking.
An Associated Press report noted
that James Murdoch twice changed his story about what he knew and when he knew it after his initial testimony was contradicted by former News Corp. executives and a printout of a 2008 e-mail was made public.
James Murdoch will also continue as chairman of satellite broadcaster BSkyB. News Corp., which holds a 39% stake in BSkyB, abandoned its plans to take full control of the company in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
Parliament’s Culture Committee chairman, John Whittingale, said on Sky News, “If News International wanted to move on and start afresh, then [James Murdoch’s] presence was always going to be a problem for them,” according to the Bloomberg report. “They want to demonstrate that they are making a fresh start with fresh personnel. That doesn’t necessarily mean that James Murdoch was guilty.”
Louis Ureneck, a journalism professor at Boston University, told the Associated Press, “James’s resignation was inevitable. He either condoned the hacking or was irresponsibly unaware, Neither is acceptable in a top executive of a media company.”
Media analyst Charlie Beckett told the AP that the announcement is an attempt by the Murdoch family “to reassert some kind of control.” Beckett pointed out that James Murdoch continues to oversee a major portion of News Corp.’s business. “He’s not losing his job, he’s being given an important role,” Beckett told the AP. (Sources: Bloomberg, Feb. 29, 2012; Associated Press, Feb. 29, 2012.)
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