James Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper division, who has steadfastly denied knowing anything about widespread phone hacking at his now-defunct News of the World tabloid, stepped down from his position on Wednesday.

Murdoch is leaving his position at News International to focus on the company's global TV business, but will remain deputy chief operating officer at News Corp.

James is the son of Rupert Murdoch, the 80-year-old newspaper baron who founded the worldwide media company. That empire has come under major scrutiny over allegations its employees illegally hacked into cell phones in order to find stories.

James has said he was unaware that any hacking was taking place at the News of the World tabloid, though former colleagues have disputed that claim.

In testimony before Britain's Parliament in November, Murdoch blamed two of his former top executives for keeping him in the dark and failing to warn him about the tendency among reporters to break the law to get a story.

"None of these things were mentioned to me," he told a House of Commons media committee.

Murdoch, 39, stuck to that line throughout more than two-and-a-half hours of testimony -- essentially pleading ignorance.

"It was not shown to me," he said of an email which implicated one of his top reporters in eavesdropping on mobile phone voice mail messages.

"It didn't occur to me to probe further," he said when questioned about the legal advice he was given by staffers.

On Wednesday, Murdoch issued a statement praising his newspaper colleagues for working "tirelessly to inform the public" and touted the launch of the company's latest British newspaper, The Sun.

The paper published its first issue on the weekend.

"With the successful launch of The Sun on Sunday and new business practices in place across all titles, News International is now in a strong position to build on its successes in the future," he said in a statement.

Tom Mockridge, the chief executive at News International, will continue in his role, the statement said.