Les Hinton, the top executive of Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones & Co, resigned after becoming one of the targets of criticism for the phone-hacking scandal that occurred when he oversaw News Corp.’s British newspapers, said the company.

“I have watched with sorrow from New York as the News of the World story has unfolded,” Hinton, who also served as publisher of the Wall Street Journal, said in his resignation letter.

“That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp., and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World,” he added.

News Corp., parent of Dow Jones, has been at the center of a storm over a voice-mail hacking scandal at its tabloid News of the World.

Another top Murdoch confidant, Rebekah Brooks, who worked under Hinton when she was News of the World’s editor, also resigned earlier on Friday.