New Website Lets You Grill Murdoch, But Don’t Expect a Straight Answer

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askmurdoch.co.uk

The bizarre theater surrounding the tabloid phone-hacking scandal that’s rocked Britain’s media world has the Internet exploding with comedic, satirical jabs about the players involved.

The latest online gem: Ask Murdoch. The site’s tagline: “Ask Murdoch: Where Rupert forgets stuff.” The site is affiliated with the blog Political Scrapbook.

The website, a spoof on search engine Ask and its UK variant Ask Jeeves, allows users to input questions for Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of News Corp, the global media empire that owned the now-defunct tabloid accused of rampant cell phone hacking. The answers provided—which range from “I don’t have any recollection” to “Pardon?”—are a comedic nod to the real Murdoch’s subpar answers during a London parliamentary hearing on Tuesday.

(PHOTOS: Roasting Rupert: The 10 Best Tweets About the Murdoch Testimony)

Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, appeared before Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to testify about allegations that News of the World reporters in their employ had hacked into the phones of thousands of people.

Throughout the hours-long grilling, the embattled 80-year-old media mogul struggled to respond, evading direct questioning or offering vague and short answers that frustrated and amused watchers around the world. His inability to hear or decipher British accents didn’t help either.

Another answer on the Ask Murdoch site is “This is a humble search engine.” The answer, of course, is a snarky reference to Murdoch’s opening comment: “This is the most humble day of my life.”

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