Dow Jones chief under hacking pressure

Les Hinton, chief executive of Dow Jones, is being blamed by people close to News Corp, for failing to get to grips with the News of the World phone hacking scandal when he was in charge of Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group.

Mr Hinton, a loyal Murdoch employee for 52 years who had been expected to retire next year, could become the most senior casualty of the crisis, his friends fear, deflecting blame from James Murdoch, who runs News Corp’s European operations, and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, which publishes Mr Murdoch’s UK papers.

“Les [Hinton] will be sacrificed to save James and Rebekah,” one person familiar with the company said. “It happened on Les’s watch,” another added: “James was not even a director of News Corp at the time.”

Rupert Murdoch, who arrived in London on Sunday to take charge of the crisis, is facing growing political opposition to his bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting, but received critical support from News Corp’s largest non-family shareholder.

“This is the time for a loyal shareholder to stand by his friends and allies, the Murdoch family,” Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holdings, which owns 7 per cent of the company, told the Financial Times.

“This is a strong alliance. We do not chicken out when we face crisis; we get stronger,“ he said, adding that Mr Murdoch, his son James and Chase Carey, chief operating officer, made “an excellent trio” of managers. He added that he had urged Mr Murdoch for “a dramatic and fast decision” to end the News of the World “mini crisis” and focus on securing BSkyB.

The backing came as David Cameron, the British prime minister, was scrambling to find a way to delay News Corp’s bid after Ed Miliband, the opposition Labour leader, announced Labour would call a parliamentary vote on the matter.

The move was supported by some leading Liberal Democrats, who govern in coalition with Mr Cameron’s Conservatives.

Mr Hinton “has questions to answer” about what he originally reassured a parliamentary committee had been a rigorous internal inquiry in 2007, people close to News Corp said.

That inquiry had involved Colin Myler, editor of the News of the World, Daniel Cloke, News International’s former head of human resources, Tom Crone, general counsel for the News of the World, and Harbottle & Lewis, the law firm, they said.

Mr Hinton declined requests for comment. Mr Hinton may not have seen all the evidence he needed to see in 2007, one person familiar with News International’s new internal inquiry said. Police are expected to ask some News International executives this week to give witness statements. News International had no comment.

Mr Murdoch drove into News International’s Wapping offices for a series of meetings reading the final edition of the News of the World. He was later photographed with his arm around Ms Brooks, telling Reuters she was his first priority before dining with her.

Keith Vaz, home affairs select committee chairman, said John Yates, Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner, would appear before MPs on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by Ben Fenton and Salamander Davoudi in London

via ft.com