News Corp defends Murdoch

Former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis said he is "glad" that Rupert Murdoch "stood by his staff" after hearing secret audio recordings made during a News Corp meeting.

Phone-hacking charges against Mr Wallis were dropped in February this year.

He also replied to a Twitter user who asked whether he thought Murdoch was "really backing the staff":

In one clip from a secret audio recording obtained by Channel 4 News, Rupert Murdoch is heard branding police "totally incompetent" and damning the Scotland Yard inquiry into corrupt payments to public officials.

"It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing," he says.

Hear more of the recordings at Channel 4 News.

A News Corp statement said Mr Murdoch was showing "understandable empathy" to his staff.

Defending Rupert Murdoch's pledge to staff, a spokesman for News Corp told Channel 4 News:

An MP has called for police action after Rupert Murdoch was apparently recorded telling journalists he regretted the level of cooperation over phone-hacking and illegal payments.

Labour MP Tom Watson called for police to question Mr Murdoch over the alleged comments, telling Channel 4 News:

Read: Murdoch heard condemning police in secret recording

Rupert Murdoch also appears to suggest in the recording, broadcast by Channel 4 News, that any journalists who were convicted and jailed in connection with the phone-hacking inquiry could get their jobs back. He is heard saying:

A spokesman for News Corp told Channel 4 News: "Rupert Murdoch has shown understandable empathy with the staff and families affected and will assume they are innocent until and unless proven guilty."

The secret recording, broadcast this evening by Channel 4 News, hears Rupert Murdoch apparently railing at the the way the police behaved in arresting his journalists.

"Still, I mean, it's a disgrace. Here we are, two years later, and the cops are totally incompetent," he is heard saying, adding: "The idea that the cops then started coming after you, kick you out of bed, and your families, at six in the morning, is unbelievable."

He also is heard saying: "But why are the police behaving in this way? It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing."

Mr Murdoch is heard adding: "And now they're arresting their own, who never even took money... They're going to put all newspapers out of business."

Rupert Murdoch has been heard condemning police who are investigating alleged phone-hacking and illegal payments to officials by his journalists as "totally incompetent" in a secret recording broadcast by Channel 4 News.

The News Corp boss is heard apparently regretting the amount of information his company had handed over to the investigation - describing it as a "mistake" - while also appearing to tell staff who feared losing their jobs if found guilty of any offences to "trust" him.

The recording, obtained by the Exaro investigative website, was said to have been made in March during a meeting with journalists from The Sun at his newspapers' headquarters in Wapping, east London.

A spokesman for News Corp told Channel 4 News: "No other company has done as much to identify what went wrong, compensate the victims, and ensure the same mistakes do not happen again.

"The unprecedented co-operation granted by News Corp was agreed unanimously by senior management and the board, and (News Corp's management and standards committee) the MSC continues to co-operate under the supervision of the courts.

"Rupert Murdoch has shown understandable empathy with the staff and families affected and will assume they are innocent until and unless proven guilty."