The Murdochs have done a reverse-ferret and now will attend the Culture select committee on Tuesday. The harm done to their reputation by their initial refusal is yet another self-inflicted wound. It was clear, given how previous select committee inquiries on these matters had not received proper answers from various representatives of News International, that parliament would do everything it could to compel their attendance. Indeed, both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had gone on the record to say they should attend before the Murdoch’s curt letters saying they wouldn’t were dispatched.
Their appearance on Tuesday will, I suspect, now become the focus of this story in the UK. The weekend papers will be full of previews of it.
This latest PR disaster for the Murdochs does make you wonder who is giving them advice on how to handle this situation. The mood now might be very different if when Murdoch had landed in this country at the weekend he had immediately apologised for what had gone on and stressed that his priority was restoring honour and probity to his titles and removing from his organisation anyone involved in wrong-doing or in the covering up of it. Instead, Rupert Murdoch made clear that his priority was taking Rebekah Brooks for a meal.
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