News Corp chairman will face phone hacking questions on Wednesday, while his son will appear on Tuesday

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Rupert Murdoch is to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking and media ethics next week, with a day and a half set aside for the News Corporation founder.

Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corp, is due to give evidence on Wednesday, continuing on Thursday morning if necessary.

His son James, the News Corp deputy chief operating officer and former chairman of the company's UK newspaper business News International, has been allocated a full day on Tuesday for his witness appearance.

Murdoch and his son are based in New York, where News Corp has its headquarters, but will be travelling to London to answer questions from Lord Justice Leveson and his legal team in court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The Leveson inquiry, set up by prime minister David Cameron following the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World in July 2011, has heard from more than 100 witnesses since evidence hearings began in November.

Witnesses have included victims of alleged press intrusion, journalists, editors, media executives, police officers and chief constables. However, up to now none have been given a full day, or more, to give evidence by Leveson.

The Murdochs appeared together before MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee to answer questions about News of the World phone-hacking at the height of the scandal in July last year.

That grilling lasted about three hours, including an unscheduled break after a UK Uncut activist threw a paper plate of shaving foam at Rupert Murdoch.

Also giving evidence at the Leveson inquiry next week, on Monday, will be Aidan Barclay, chairman of Daily Telegraph publisher Telegraph Media Group, and Evgeny Lebedev, the son of Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev, who runs his London-based papers the Independent and London Evening Standard.

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