A journalist at the Times newspaper was disciplined for computer hacking in 2009, the Leveson Inquiry into media standards has been told.
Tom Mockridge - who replaced Rebekah Brooks as chief executive of News International last year - gave more details of the incident, which was first revealed to the inquiry a week ago.
Mr Mockridge told the inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice that the unnamed reporter apparently hacked a 'third-party computer'.
Mr Mockridge said the hacking incident happened in 2009
He was later dismissed for 'an unrelated matter'.
In a written statement to the inquiry, Mr Mockridge stated: 'At the date of my first witness statement, it was my understanding that the reporter in question had denied gaining such access.
'Following further inquiries, I now understand that the reporter in fact admitted the conduct during disciplinary proceedings, although he claimed that he was acting in the public interest.
'The journalist was disciplined as a result, He was later dismissed from the business for an unrelated matter.'
Mr Mockridge, whose company also publishes the Sunday Times and the Sun, went on to defend British newspapers, although he conceded 'everything might not be perfect'.
'I am talking about the situation today, not the circumstances clearly of five years ago,' he said.
'But I think in general this country enjoys something precious and something which many people in other countries look up to.'
He said the culture at News International was now changing.
'It might be over ambitious to say the culture has entirely changed in six months, but there has been a change of policy and individuals are rigorously applying that policy,' he said.
Earlier Ian Hislop, editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye, told the inquiry there was no need for statutory regulation of the press.
He said laws were already in place to tackle abuses like phone hacking, but they had not been rigorously enforced because of the close relationship between police and politicians and senior media executives.
Mr Hislop said: 'Most of the heinous crimes that came up and have made such a splash in front of this inquiry have already been illegal.
'Contempt of court is illegal, phone tapping is illegal, policemen taking money is illegal. All of these things don't need a code, we already have laws for them.'
Mr Hislop, who has edited Private Eye since 1986, said the family of News International owner Rupert Murdoch was 'deeply embedded in our top political class.'
He said he hoped that inquiry chairman Lord Justice Leveson would call Prime Minister David Cameron and his predecessors Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to give evidence.
Although opposed to hacking, Mr Hislop said journalists could be justified in employing 'blagging' - the use of subterfuge to obtain information.
'I don't throw my hands up at blagging. There have been some very effective blags,' he said.
'For example, the Channel 4 programme where someone pretended to be a lobbyist and a number of greedy MPs and members of the House of Lords came and offered their services.'
The inquiry continues.
