80-year-old News Corporation chief's wife Wendi Deng leaped up and slapped the assailant, who was dragged off by police after the attack during a parliamentary committee hearing quizzing Mr Murdoch and his son James.
The Guardian newspaper and Sky News named the attacker as a comedian called Jonnie Marbles.
In a Twitter message shortly before the incident, he said: "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat."
There was no confirmation of his identity as Scotland Yard had no immediate comment.
The hearing resumed 10 minutes later, with Murdoch apologising to the victims of phone hacking by the now-defunct News of the World tabloid but denying ultimate responsibility for the scandal.
At times stumbling to a halt in his testimony, he began by saying: "I would just like to say one sentence. This is the most humble day of my life."
The scandal has rocked Mr Murdoch's global media empire, sparked the resignation of two of Britain's top police chiefs, and even placed prime minister David Cameron under pressure.
Mr Murdoch said it was "not an excuse" but that with a company of 53,000 staff to oversee he could not be held fully responsible for failing to uncover the scandal.
Asked whether "ultimately you are responsible for this whole fiasco?", Mr Murdoch tersely replied: "No".
When pressed over who he blamed, Mr Murdoch said: "The people that I trusted to run it (his media empire) and then maybe the people they trusted.
As he was questioned about his knowledge of the extent of wrongdoing at the News of the World, Rupert Murdoch paused several times before answering, and his son James Murdoch requested permission to answer questions on local matters.
However politician Tom Watson, who was questioning Rupert Murdoch, said he wished to continue his questioning with Rupert Murdoch as his questions related to matters of corporate governance.
Rupert Murdoch said he was first aware that the mobile phone voice mail of murder victim Milly Dowler was hacked into by the News of the World two weeks ago and was shocked, appalled and ashamed by it. He said the company has to find and deal with guilty people within the organisation, adding that the people he trusted had let him down.
Rupert Murdoch was asked about his level of direct involvement with his newspapers, and said that he did not speak regularly to the editor of News of the World. "Perhaps I lost sight of the News of the World," he said.
News Corp deputy chief operating officer James Murdoch apologised to victims of phone hacking at News of the World tabloid, and said the company will put things right and ensure that it doesn't happen again.
James Murdoch said there is no evidence that Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News Corp's UK newspaper unit, or former News International chairman Les Hinton, had knowledge of the phone hacking.
Both Ms Brooks and Mr Hinton resigned last week.
Rupert Murdoch said he accepted their resignations because they were both adamant that they should resign due to their positions of responsibility at the time of the phone hacking.
When asked why he did not accept Ms Brooks' resignation earlier, he said he believed and trusted in her. He did not comment on the size of the payments that either executive received following their resignations, but said that Mr Hinton would have received a "significant" sum given was employed by News Corp for 52 years.
He also stressed that Ms Brooks' resignation and the closure of the News of the World were "absolutely and totally unrelated".
James Murdoch said that News Corp had not made any decision as to whether or not to launch a new UK Sunday tabloid following the closure of the News of the World, adding that the option remains open.
James Murdoch also said he welcomed the UK review into the media industry and said the entire UK newspaper industry needs to consider journalistic ethics.
Rupert Murdoch said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US has no evidence that victims of the terrorist attack in New York in September 2001 were subjected to phone hacking.
The two Murdochs were summoned to appear before the committee after originally declining a request to attend.
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