A powerful committee made up of members of Britain's Parliament issued a report Tuesday that it was misled by the News of the World, News International and a number of its executives over the phone-hacking scandal.

The Culture, Media and Sport select committee singled out former News of the World editor Colin Myler, ex-legal manager Tom Crone and Les Hinton, who worked for News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch for more than 50 years for criticism.

The report, in part, said: "Their instinct throughout, until it was too late, was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators."

It said it could now ask the House of Commons to decide whether there had been a contempt of Parliament and what the punishment should be.

"The behaviour of News International and certain witnesses in this affair demonstrated contempt for that system in the most blatant fashion."

Although Rupert