News Corp. responded to a U.K. parliamentary report on phone hacking on Tuesday by acknowledging that there was "serious wrongdoing" at News of the World while labeling parts of the study "highly partisan."
What parts exactly drew the company's indignation were not specified, but it is easy to guess.
The study concluded that News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch's response to the hacking and bribery scandal at his U.K. tabloid showed that he was "not a fit person" to run his sprawling media empire.
It also said that News Corp. leadership, up to and including Rupert and his son James Murdoch, was more interested in covering up the hacking than they were in rooting out the problem.
Also read: Rupert Murdoch 'Not Fit' to Run News Corp., U.K. Parliamentary Committee Finds
"News Corporation regrets, however, that the Select Committee's analysis of the factual record was followed by some commentary that we, and indeed several members of the committee, consider unjustified and highly partisan," the company said in a statement. "These remarks divided the members along party lines."
Conservative members of the 10-person committee did not approve the study, reportedly believing that the statements about Murdoch's competence were unfair.
News Corp. did admit that its response to the scandal was insufficient.
"Hard truths have emerged from the Select Committee Report: that there was serious wrongdoing at the News of the World; that our response to the wrongdoing was too slow and too defensive; and that some of our employees misled the Select Committee in 2009," the company said.
In response the company said it had conducted an internal review of its newspaper operations in the U.K. and was instituting internal controls and compliance programs across its worldwide operations to prevent any further offenses.
"As we move forward, our goal is to make certain that in every corner of the globe, our company acts in a manner of which our 50,000 employees and hundreds of thousands of shareholders can be justly proud," the company said.