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U.K. Tabloid Scandal: How To Watch The Murdochs Testify

The scandal in the U.K. over how some News Corp. newspapers invaded the privacy of perhaps thousands of people, from the royals to murder victims, is front-and-center in Parliament this morning as company chief Rupert Murdoch appears before the Media and Sport Committee to answer questions about what his company allegedly did.

Also today, beginning at 7 a.m. ET, there's the appearance before the Home Affairs Committee of Sir Paul Stephenson, who this week stepped down as head of Scotland Yard after reports that some police officials may have been paid by News Corp. tabloids for information. He's to be joined by John Yates, who Monday resigned from his post as assistant commissioner of the famed police force.

Murdoch, his son James (a top executive of News Corp.) and Rebekah Brooks (a former editor of the tabloid News of the World, where the scandal began, and who this week resigned her post as the top executive at News Corp.'s European unit), are due to appear before the committee starting at 9:30 a.m. ET.

The sessions are being webcast. ( Update at 9:30 a.m. ET: We've embedded Channel 4 News' stream here.)

The Home Affairs Committee's questioning of the former Scotland Yard officials is here.

When the second committee starts questioning the Murdochs and Brooks, the session is to be online here.

On Morning Edition, NPR's Philip Reeves said that among the questions the Murdochs will be asked is "how much they knew about phone-hacking at the now-closed News of the World"and why their company insisted for so long that only two people had been involved.

Whether the Murdochs and Brooks will directly answer the queries isn't known. Brooks has already been arrested for her alleged role in the scandal.

We'll add posts as the news develops.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that "News Corp. board member Thomas Perkins said Monday that embattled Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has the full support of the company's board of directors, and is not considering elevating Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey to replace him amid a phone-hacking scandal in Britain."

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.