Rupert and James Murdoch: management speak

Business speak, also management speak refers to a particular syntax often used in large organizations. The tone is associated with managers of large corporations, business management consultants, and occasionally government. The term is typically derogatory, implying the use of long, complicated, or obscure words, abbreviations, or acronyms. Some of these words may be new inventions, designed purely to fit the specialized meaning of a situation. Frequently management speak is used to "spin" negative situations as positive situations.

Rupert Murdoch Testifies Before Parliament

"This is the most humble day of my life."

Murdoch Says He Has No Plans To Resign

"Frankly, I'm the best person to clean this up."

UPDATE #4: Rupert and James Murdoch are done testifying. The biggest takeaway – other than the cream-pie attack – was that both men claim they are oh-so sorry for the hacking scandal but that neither was responsible for it.

Rupert Murdoch said that he has no plans to step down in the wake of the scandal. "Frankly, I'm the best person to clean this up," he said.

UPDATE #3: The hearing has resumed.

We've got some video of the event here. As you can see, the cameras didn't capture everything, although it appears as though Murdoch's son, James, also jumped to his defense.

UPDATE #2: Just in case this couldn't get any more bizarre: The hearing has been temporarily suspended after a man attempted to accost Rupert Murdoch.

The man approached the table with what appeared to be a plate of shaving cream. But before he could get to the table, Murdoch's wife, Wendi, appeared to jump to her husband's defense.

Police have the man in custody.

Here's a pic of the attempted pie attack.

UPDATE: Some early notes:

1) Rupert Murdoch opened the hearing by saying that today "is the most humble day of my life."

2) Murdoch denied responsibility for the phone hacking scandal, saying that responsibility for the illicit news gathering rests with those he trusted to run the News of the World.

3) Murdoch claims that he's seen "no evidence" than any News Corp. reporters had hacked into the phones of 9/11 victims or their families.

4) Asked about speculation that News Corp. was planning to open a new Sunday tabloid to replace the now shuttered News of the World, James Murdoch said that no decision on that had been made. Still, his response certainly didn't rule it out.

Original Post at 9:40 a.m.: It is going to be a long day in the House of Commons, where members of Parliament will spend most of the day grilling a host of key players in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

By far the most high-profile testimony will come from Rupert Murdoch, who has struggled to control the fallout from the ballooning scandal that has threatened his media empire. Also set to appear: Murdoch’s son, James, and former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks.

Rupert and James Murdoch began their testimony shortly after 9:35 a.m. We’ll update with major developments, but you can watch the hearing live here, here and here.

Meanwhile, there is a host of papers live-blogging the event. Here are a few of the bigger ones where you can follow along:

The Washington Post

The New York Times

The Wall Street Journal

The Guardian