Embattled News Corp. Exec James Murdoch Gets A Pay Raise

James Murdoch, the son of News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch and the company’s deputy chief operating officer, has been at the center of News Corp.’s phone hacking scandal, which has sparked investigations into the company’s practices in both the United States and Great Britain. Murdoch, along with his father, appeared in front of the British Parliament as part of an inquiry into the News of the World scandal that rocked Britain after the paper’s reporters were accused of bribing public officials and hacking into voice mail systems to get scoops on stories. Scandal eventually spread to other News Corp. subsidiaries, including the European division of the Wall Street Journal.

Despite those scandals, BSkyB, a British broadcaster where Murdoch serves in a non-executive chairmanship position, announced this week that it was giving him a £1,300 raise. The announcement, the Telegraph reports, made no mention of the scandals that have enveloped News Corp. since early this summer:

The increase, which brings Mr Murdoch’s pay for the non-executive role to £88,000, was revealed in an annual report from BSkyB that made no mention of the News of the World phone hacking scandal that has rocked News Corp and BSkyB, and ultimately derailed the deal.

Earlier this year, News Corp. submitted a bid to take over the 61 percent of BSkyB it does not already own, but the Murdochs pulled the bid amid the growing phone hacking scandal. The cost of aborting the deal cost BSkyB £16 million.

The raise is likely to further enrage News Corp. shareholders, who made a push to remove Rupert Murdoch and his relatives from their board and chairmanship positions at its annual meetings earlier this month. The Murdochs prevailed due to their holding a majority stake in the company, allowing James Murdoch to keep his seat on the BSkyB board and take home a handsome raise despite the troubles plaguing the family empire.