On Thursday, News International chief executive James Murdoch faces Parliament to answer questions about phone hacking -- a scandal that has plagued his family's company for months.
It will be the second time that Murdoch, the son of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, finds himself in the hot seat over phone hacking. The scandal exploded in July with revelations that the News of the World tabloid hacked the voice messages of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler among other people.
The younger Murdoch, who presides over the company's European operations, has come under mounting pressure over what he knew about phone hacking at the paper. In July, he testified that he knew nothing about phone hacking at the News of the World until 2010, and that he signed off on payments to phone hacking victim Gordon Taylor without knowing why.
But Murdoch's testimony has been repeatedly challenged by former News of the World employees and company lawyers. They allege that he was fully aware of phone hacking at the time of the Gordon Taylor settlement. The past three months have seen the executive come under mounting pressure, and new evidence that sharply contradict the account he gave in July.
Their claims have already forced James Murdoch to clarify his statements via letter to Parliament.
Here are eight of the revelations that have surfaced since Murdoch's last testimony. He is likely to be grilled about many of them on Thursday:
- Colin Myler, former editor, and Tom Crone, the former lawyer, have challenged Murdoch's account that he approved payouts to Gordon Taylor without knowing why. Myler and Crone said that they showed Murdoch an email between private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and former reporter Neville Thurlbeck, which contained transcripts of Taylor's voice messages.
