James Murdoch stepped down yesterday as executive chairman of News International, News Corp.’s scandal-plagued British newspaper unit.

James Murdoch, 39, will remain News Corp.’s deputy chief operating officer and focus on international television operations, the New York-based media and entertainment giant said in a statement.

News International has been embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal which has seen the arrests of several former top editors and the abrupt closure last year of the News of the World.

A public inquiry into press standards heard from a top police officer Monday that journalists at another News International paper, The Sun, had made cash payments to a “network of corrupted officials.”

James Murdoch has long been seen as the heir apparent to his father Rupert Murdoch but the elder Murdoch was accompanied by another son, Lachlan, on a recent visit to The Sun, during which plans were announced to launch a Sunday edition of the tabloid.

News Corp. said James Murdoch was stepping down from News International following his relocation to company headquarters in New York as deputy chief operating officer, a move which took place last year.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.