Police press broadcasters for copies of Murdoch hacking probe tapes The Metropolitan Police in London has made a formal request for journalists to hand over a leaked recording of a meeting in which Rupert Murdoch appeared to contradict his previous statements of contrition over press abuses under investigation at his UK newspapers. Details of the secretly-recorded comments to staff at The Sun, in which News Corp's chairman described police as "totally incompetent" and dismissed their investigations as "the biggest inquiry ever over next to nothing," were published on Wednesday by Channel 4 News and Exaro News, an investigative website. Both news outlets have since been contacted by Scotland Yard, which is itself under pressure over its handling of early phone hacking allegations. Exaro said the police force had indicated it could seek the recording "via a production order," if the website did not comply voluntarily. Exaro, which has published audio extracts and a full transcript of the meeting, said in a series of tweets that it did not have audio of the full meeting and would not betray any confidential source. The police request came as Hacked Off, a lobbying group for victims of press abuses, asked John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee to recall Mr Murdoch "to explain the discrepancies between the expressions of remorse he made to you and the defiant and unrepentant tone of his private remarks earlier this year." One person close to News Corp said it had received no such request. Two former committee members have made conflicting statements about the recording, with Louise Mensch, the former Conservative MP, describing the idea of summoning Mr Murdoch again as "hysterical nonsense," and Labour's Tom Watson saying he hoped the police would interview Mr Murdoch about what he knew. In the recording, Mr Murdoch appears to belittle payments to police officers for stories as "the culture of Fleet Street." He is heard telling Sun staff: "We're talking about payments for news tips from cops: that's been going on a hundred years, absolutely. Mr Murdoch had told the Leveson inquiry last year that "paying police officers for information is wrong." A News Corp spokesperson said after the recording emerged: "Mr Murdoch never knew of payments made by Sun staff to police before News Corp disclosed that to UK authorities. The recording also reveals the level of betrayal felt by once loyal journalists arrested as part of the Met's investigations, who vent their anger at News Corp's co-operation with the police through its Management and Standards Committee. Journalists complained in the meeting that they had been treated as common criminals "for doing nothing more than the company expected of us." Mr Murdoch, who described the MSC's co-operation with the police as "a mistake," hinted in the meeting that he could rehire journalists even if they were convicted for alleged bribery offences.