"Humble" Murdoch

Calling it "the most humble day of my life", Murdoch defended his record and that of his son and top News Corp executive James, and said he could not know everything all his 53,000 employees did.

James, 38, sat beside him before parliament's media committee, interjecting on occasion as his father hesitated to give answers on what he knew about hacking and payments made to some of those involved.

But as three hours of at times testy proceedings drew to a close, a man rose from the public seating of the packed committee room and lunged at the elder Murdoch with a paper plate of white foam.

The Australian-born mogul's 42-year-old wife Wendi Deng leapt up to slap the protester in a melee before he was seized by police. He was identified as a left-wing comedian.

After a short recess, Murdoch was told by one legislator he had shown "immense guts". Another legislator, long one of Murdoch's most bitter critics, jokingly complimented his wife on her "very good left hook".

That televised cameo, and the Murdochs' personal remorse and will to clean up the mess at News Corp's British newspaper unit News International, may ease public fury aimed at a man who has been courted and feared by British leaders for decades.

Wednesday's newspaper front pages were dominated by pictures of the scuffle and some used "humble pie" in headlines.

Commentators were divided between those who felt both Murdochs acquitted themselves well and others who felt the elder looked out of touch, even "a broken man".

Shares in News Corp rose over 5.5 percent in New York, recovering some of their previous losses.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Wednesday the local arm of News Corp would have to answer "hard questions" after the phone-hacking in Britain.

Emotional apology

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old News of the World and, faced with political outrage, dropped a $12-billion bid to buy out other shareholders in British pay-TV network BSkyB .

Having published apologies in newspapers and met the parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, Murdoch took pains to read out a further emotional statement of regret after the hearing.

Murdoch said he had been "very" misled by his staff.

"I would like all the victims of phone-hacking to know how completely and deeply sorry I am," he said.

Police say they are probing the hacking of messages of possibly 4,000 people.

Asked if he felt he should resign, Murdoch said: "No. I feel that people I trusted, I'm not saying who, I don't know on what level, have let me down and I think they behaved disgracefully, betrayed the company and me and it's for them to pay."

His son said they did not believe the two most senior executives to have resigned, Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton, knew of any wrongdoing. Brooks, 43, who once edited the News of the World, was arrested and bailed by police on Sunday.

Brooks told a later session of the same hearing she wanted to apologise for the scandal and denied knowing the private investigators at the heart of the allegations.

Two of Britain's most senior policemen quit this week over the appointment of a former News of the World deputy editor as a consultant, the failure to widen inquiries into phone-hacking after the initial case ended in 2007, and allegations that officers had accepted payments.