NEW YORK, July 19 — News Corp independent directors are fully behind Rupert Murdoch, a board member told Reuters yesterday, as his iron grip on his vast media empire came under question because of the hacking scandal that already has consumed his London newspaper company.

The position of his son James as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting was thrown into doubt yesterday after minority investors called for a corporate governance health check of its board. Added to this was increasing speculation that Rupert himself may step aside from the CEO role at News Corp while retaining the chairman’s job as the company seeks to contain the crisis.

There has been talk for the past few days that Chase Carey could take over from Rupert Murdoch, and Bloomberg reported that there had been discussions yesterday by independent directors on whether to replace Murdoch. That was denied by a board member who said the independent directors were fully behind the 80-year-old Australian-born media magnate.

The board member and another person familiar with the company’s plans also denied a Bloomberg report that suggested the board was considering replacing Murdoch depending on his performance before the British Parliament committee today. The report said the News Corp board met yesterday to discuss replacing Murdoch but both people denied this.

“There was no meeting of independent directors,” the board member said. “This board totally supports the top management. We’re united behind him.”

The second person said the board had had a succession plan in place for some time and it regularly reevaluated those plans. “Suggestions that a plan is being accelerated or implemented are inaccurate,” the person said.

Carey, a 23-year News Corp veteran and long-time lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch, is favoured by investors in the United States to take control of the business if Murdoch, 80, stands down.

Until a phone-hacking scandal at News Corp’s UK papers started escalating over the past three weeks, James Murdoch, who is deputy chief operating officer, had been seen as his father’s successor.

The growing uncertainty around News Corp and its future has hurt its share price and the company had lost more than US$6 billion (RM18 billion) in market capitalisation value since the UK phone-hacking issue erupted on July 4.

But signs are that investors might be starting to recover a little confidence in the company after dropping more than 17 per cent in the US.

The stock rose 2.8 per cent in mid-morning trade in Australia after rising as much as 3.7 per cent earlier.

“I think they’re doing everything they can to try and dampen this situation down,” said Burrell & Co dealer, Jamie Elgar.

“But looking at the press in the UK, this scandal is not dying down at all.”

Reuters is a competitor of Dow Jones Newswires, the financial news agency that News Corp acquired along with the Wall Street Journal in 2007. — Reuters