Lord Leveson's inquiry, announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in July, has the remit to particularly scrutinise another part of News Corporation's business. It will focus on the improper conduct within its European arm News International, especially the News of the World, which was subsequently shut down.

Sir Harold Evans, the former editor of The Sunday Times, resigned a year after Mr Murdoch bought the newspapers in 1981 complaining about editorial independence.

He wrote earlier this year that the company's newspapers "blatantly used news columns to plug their proprietor's satellite programmes".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/murdoch-man-quits-in-ethics-row-2369228.html

THERE IS growing pressure for Rupert Murdoch and his son James to step down from their respective positions as CEO and deputy chief operating officer of NewsCorp following a report by the largest investor advisory group in the US, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).

The ISS said this year's phone hacking scandal had "laid bare a striking lack of stewardship and failure of independence". It blamed the board for failing to draw a line under the issue, which has "now resulted in enormous costs – financial, legal, regulatory, reputational and opportunity – for the shareholders the board ostensibly serves".