Phone-hacking scandal: Murdoch attacks 'total lies'

Media mogul, 80, says he is 'tired' and 'getting annoyed' in interview with The Wall Street Journal

News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch holds a copy of The Sun and The Times as he is driven away from his flat in central London July 11, 2011.

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

Rupert Murdoch condemned some of the allegations made against his newspapers as "total lies" and admitted he was "getting annoyed" amid the continuing phone-hacking scandal, in a newspaper interview published Friday.

As sources said the FBI had opened an investigation into allegations that Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, the media mogul made his first significant statement on the crisis to The Wall Street Journal.
Allegations of phone-hacking led Murdoch to close the News of the World newspaper in Britain and he and his son James Murdoch are to face questions amid suggestions of a wider scandal in the British parliament on Tuesday next week.
Murdoch told the Journal, which is ultimately owned by News Corp., that he wanted to deal with "some of the things that have been said in Parliament, some of which are total lies."

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"We think it's important to absolutely establish our integrity in the eyes of the public. ... I felt that it's best just to be as transparent as possible," he added, speaking late Thursday.
Murdoch, 80, told the paper he was "getting annoyed." However, he added, "I'll get over it. I'm tired."
He defended the handling of the affair by his son James, who is chairman of News Corp.'s British arm News International, saying "I think he acted as fast as he could, the moment he could."
Story: FBI probes Murdoch empire over 9/11 hacking claims

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The company dealt with the crisis "extremely well in every way possible," making just "minor mistakes," Murdoch said, according to the Journal.
"When I hear something going wrong, I insist on it being put right," he added.
'Strongest possible denial' He said any damage to the company was "nothing that will not be recovered," and dismissed speculation that it might sell off its newspapers as "pure and total rubbish."
"Give it the strongest possible denial you can give," he told the Journal.
Timeline: Tabloid stir: Phone-hacking scandal intensifies (on this page) News Corp. will set up an independent committee to investigate improper conduct, with the committee headed by a "distinguished non-employee," Murdoch told the Journal. He said the committee will look at charges of impropriety and put together protocol for behavior for new reporters.
His remarks are unlikely to appease U.K. lawmaker Chris Bryant, who has campaigned against British media abuses.
He told Reuters that he was not taking his foot off the pedal despite the closure of the News of the World and the end of the media baron's bid for pay-TV operator BSkyB, which he already partly owns.
Story: Has Murdoch's bad apple spoiled the barrel? Bryant was instrumental in starting a rare emergency debate in parliament last week that set Britain's political machine firmly against Murdoch's empire.
The political pressure over phone hacking allegations at one of Murdoch's British newspapers forced his News Corp. media conglomerate to abandon its $12 billion bid for 61 percent of BSkyB it does not already own.
'Fit and proper'? Bryant could also help end Murdoch's ownership of the remaining 39 percent, by showing that News Corp. is not a "fit and proper" owner of a TV license, a key test demanded by Britain's media watchdog.
Bryant is contacting News Corp. non-executive directors to find out what they knew about phone hacking at News Corp.-owned papers, allegations that have engulfed the firm in a firestorm of police investigations and public and political condemnation.
The company's British newspaper arm News International is accused of hacking into the phones of some 4,000 people, including that of a missing schoolgirl who was later found murdered and those of the families of fallen soldiers.