Nick Clegg,the deputy prime minister, urged all three senior executives to "do the decent thing" and face MPs.
"If they have any shred of sense of responsibility or accountability for their position of power then they should come and explain themselves to the select committee," said Clegg.
Rupert Murdoch wrote a letter to the committee, declining to give evidence in person to the evidence -giving session on 19 July.
"Unfortunately, I am not available to attend the session you have planned next Tuesday," he wrote. "However, I am fully prepared to give evidence to the forthcoming judge-led public inquiry and I will be taking steps to notify those conducting the inquiry of my willingness to do so. Having done this, I would be happy to discuss with you how best to give evidence to your committee."
His son James wrote a separate letter in which he said would not be available to attend the session planned for July 19, but would be "pleased" to give evidence to the committee on either the 10 or 11 August. "Naturally, if neither of these proves suitable I would be willing to consider any alternative dates you suggest," he wrote.
Only Brooks, a British citizen, bowed to pressure from parliament to take responsibility by attending the parliamentary committee to account for events that took place under her watch.
In a letter confirming her attendance, she wrote:
"As you are well aware, the Metropolitan police investigation into illegal voicemail interception continues and we are fully cooperating with that. Aspects of the work to which your committee may wish to refer are likely to be relevant to that investigation. Indeed, the police have already asked us specifically to provide information about those matters."
She went on: "I understand that various select committees have approached the police over time in relation to this and other cases. The police's position has been to co-operate where this did not directly impact on the investigation in question. In those cases where it did potentially impact, the police have historically declined to comment at that stage. Our understanding is that this approach has not been challenged. Given that we are in the midst of an investigation, and we do not want to prejudice it, I hope you will understand why we feel it would not be appropriate to respond to such questions at present in order to be consistent with [the] police's approach, and that as a result this may prevent me from discussing these matters in detail."
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