Media baron Rupert Murdoch says he is humbled by the phone-hacking scandal engulfing his British press operations but adds he is not personally responsible for it.

The 80-year-old Murdoch answered questions before a Parliament investigative committee on Tuesday alongside his son James, his chief deputy at his global media company, News Corporation. The elder Murdoch called his first-ever testimony before Parliament “the most humble day of my life.”

But when asked whether he was personally responsible “for this fiasco,” he tersely replied, “No.”

Asked who was, Murdoch laid the blame on “people that I trusted to run it, and then maybe the people they trusted.”

He rejected a suggestion that he resign, saying he believes he is “the best person to clean this up.”

Both father and son answered questions for nearly three hours. The hearing was halted briefly toward the end of it when a man in a plaid shirt in the hearing room rushed the table where they were sitting in an attempt to attack the elder Murdoch with a plate of shaving cream. His wife, Wendi Deng, who was sitting behind him, jumped up and swung her right hand at the attacker to protect her husband and security forces quickly subdued the attacker. British news agencies later identified him as a comedian called Jonnie Marbles.

In their testimony, the Murdochs repeatedly apologized for the phone-hacking of several thousand calls by journalists they employed at the News of the World tabloid they shut recently after 168 years of publication.

The elder Murdoch said that invading people's privacy by listening to their voicemails is wrong, as is paying police for information.

One non-Murdoch London newspaper has suggested that some Murdoch employees tried to hack into the cellphones of victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States. But Murdoch said his company has seen “no evidence” that it occurred and did not believe the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has found any either in the first stages of its investigation.

The younger Murdoch told the legislative panel that he and his father had “great regret” about the phone-hacking and said the conduct did not “live up to the standards” of their News Corporation. He said they were determined to “put things right.”

Both Murdochs said they have been surprised at the scope of the wrongdoing and often said they had been unaware of various details until they were exposed by limited investigations their executives and police had conducted.

At one point, when asked about one of the journalists who has been arrested, the elder Murdoch replied gruffly, “Never heard of him.” He noted that one explanation for the “laxity” of his knowledge was that the News of the World accounted for less than 1 percent of his company's worldwide operations.

The elder Murdoch's car was mobbed by photographers as he arrived more than two hours ahead of his testimony. Lawmakers were already sharply questioning London police officials about their close connections with former editors and journalists at Murdoch's British operations, including the News of the World.

Paul Stephenson, who quit Sunday as London police chief, testified that he regretted hiring Neil Wallis, a former editor at the tabloid, as a public relations consultant for the police agency known worldwide as Scotland Yard. The 60-year-old Wallis was arrested last week on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.

News of the World reporters have been accused of illegally accessing thousands of cellphone voice mails of celebrities, politicians, rival journalists and even murder victims.

The scandal has led to the resignations of London's top two police officers, Stephenson and John Yates. Rebekah Brooks, who has resigned as head of Murdoch's British operations, and Mr. Cameron's former communications chief, Andy Coulson – another former News of the World editor – have been arrested.

In the United States, the FBI has begun a probe into whether employees of Murdoch's media conglomerate tried to hack into the phones of September 11 terrorist attack victims and their families or tried to bribe police for information.

Murdoch's company owns several U.S. news and entertainment outlets, including the country's top business newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, and a major television outlet, Fox News Channel.