News Corp mogul Rupert Murdoch conceded Thursday that he had failed to adequately govern his now-defunct News of the World tabloid but resisted charges that he was aware that journalists at the publication were participants in illegal and unethical activities, including phone hacking. "I'm guilty of not having paid enough attention to the News of the World probably throughout all the time that we've owned it," Murdoch said during a second day of testimony before a media ethics inquiry in London. The 81-year-old media titan said he was "misinformed and shielded" from what he called a "cover-up" by employees at the tabloid, the Guardian reported. He added that he had spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" to clean up the scandal, which he called “a serious blot on my reputation.” During hearings on Wednesday, Murdoch dismissed charges he had outsized influence over elections and politicians. “I have never asked a prime minister for anything," he said.
