Murdoch: Hacking scandal changed my company

London:  Rupert Murdoch used his testimony before a UK inquiry to portray himself as the victim, not perpetrator, of a cover-up over phone hacking — a bold claim unlikely to be accepted by those suing his company for invading their privacy.

The 81-year-old media magnate apologised. He said he had failed. He noted that the corporate clean-up of the British phone hacking scandal had cost his New York-based News Corp. hundreds of millions of dollars and transformed its culture.

"I failed, and I'm sorry about it," Murdoch said on Thursday, adding later: "We are now a new company altogether."

Murdoch's two days of testimony, which began on Wednesday, marked his attempt to corral the scandal that has rocked Britain, tainted senior politicians, prompted top police commanders and media executives to resign and affected large swathes of his media empire.

It boiled over in July after it became clear that journalists at Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World tabloid routinely broke the law in pursuit of scoops, with Murdoch-friendly police and politicians turning a blind eye to a litany of abuses, including illegal espionage and bribery.

Hotly anticipated

The scandal prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to order a wide-ranging judicial inquiry into the country's media, which has heard from a range of journalists and public figures. Murdoch's testimony was the most hotly anticipated thus far.

Murdoch's words, delivered under oath, offered an unusual public glimpse into the media mogul's personality, alternately combative and contrite. Murdoch showed the occasional sign of annoyance, but pointed questions about his alleged vast political influence and business interests were largely parried with firm denials and touches of dry wit.

A few new revelations tumbled out, among them his admission on Thursday that his dramatic decision to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World was an impulse move. He said he snapped his fingers and "it was done like that."

"I panicked. But I'm glad I did," Murdoch said, explaining that he'd long wanted to replace the paper with a Sunday edition of The Sun, his top-selling tabloid.

Murdoch also revealed that he had been taken aback at the size of the 2008 payout made to phone hacking victim and former England soccer manager Gordon Taylor — testimony at odds with what his son James Murdoch told the inquiry earlier in the week.

Scale of settlement

The elder Murdoch's admission was important, because critics have alleged that the $1 million (Dh3.67 million) settlement to Taylor — 10 to 20 times larger than a typical payout for breach of privacy — was intended to bury the hacking scandal.

"The size seemed incredible," Murdoch said. "It still does seem incredible."