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Tag: Rebekah Brooks

  • Rebekah Brooks Phone Hacking Case Ends In “Not Guilty” Verdict

    Rebekah Brooks, former head of News Corp U.K.’s publishing unit, who was charged with hacking into a dead teen’s phone, has been acquitted of charges. The scandal has been longed lived, but now the trails are coming to a close, and Brooks, herself, might breath a sigh of relief.

    Two years ago, Brooks was charged with hacking into the phone of murdered Milly Dowler, a 13 year-old girl who was kidnapped in 2002. When her killer, Levi Bellfield, was convicted in 2011, News Corp, run by mogul Rupert Murdoch, ran into trouble when News of the World tried to intercept communications without lawful authority. As a result, Murdoch resigned and News of the World folded.

    They didn’t manage to bring down Brooks with them, as she has been cleared of the phone hacking charges. Reuters even suggested she may go back to work for News Corp in the United States.

    For months, the trail has been gripping and trying for those involved. “If what you saw was a mask, Mrs Brooks must be a witch with truly supernatural powers,” Reuters quoted her lawyer giving statements to the jury. “No human mask could withstand that amount of scrutiny without cracking.”

    The jury, it seems, agreed with him.

    Others involved in the trails were also cleared of charges. CNN reported that these included Brooks’ husband, her personal assistant Cheryl Carter, and retired managing editor Stuart Kuttner. However, some were not so lucky. Editor Andy Coulson was found guilty of phone hacking charges. Coulson’s conviction is a blow to Downing Street, since he was a former communications chief for the British government. “I am extremely sorry that I employed him, it was the wrong decision, and I am very clear about that,” Prime Minister David Cameron apologized. The trial is set to resume tomorrow to discuss other charges.

    Image via ITN, YouTube.

  • Rebekah Brooks Charged in UK Phone Hacking Scandal

    Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International and the ex-editor for News of the World, will be brought up on charges in the phone-hacking case, along with seven other individuals. If she’s found guilty of the crimes, which including conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, Brooks could face up to two years in prison. Altogether, the group faces 19 charges involving nearly 600 victims, which include various celebrities.

    “I am not guilty of these charges,” Brooks explained in a statement. “I did not authorize, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting. Not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime. I will vigorously defend these allegations.”

    Brooks, along with former editor Andy Coulson and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, have been accused of illegally obtaining voice mails from Milly Dowler, a 13 year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in 2002. Dowler was on her way home from school when she was abducted by Levi Bellfield, who was convicted of the crimes in June of 2011. As a result of the ensuing scandal, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch resigned in 2011. News of the World, rocked by the aftermath of the scandal, closed shortly thereafter.

    Coulson, meanwhile, has issued his own statement on the matter, proclaiming once again that he did nothing to harm the investigation into Dowler’s disappearance. He added, “At the News of the World we worked on behalf of the victims of crime, particularly violent crime, and the idea that I would sit in my office dreaming up schemes to undermine investigations is simply untrue.”

    Presently, a court date has not been set.

  • Rebekah Brooks Arrested in NewsCorp Scandal

    Operation Weeting, one of the the British Metropolitan Police operations in England tasked with investigating the phone-hacking scandal around Rupert Murdoch’s News International, has netted several arrests. Among those nabbed was Rebekah Brooks, who has become an infamous celebrity in the U.K. for her role in the affair.

    The statement from New Scotland Yard read:

    Police have today (Tuesday, 13 March) arrested six people at addresses in London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Hertfordshire.

    The co-ordinated arrests were made between approximately 0500 and 0700 this morning by officers from Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone-hacking of voicemail boxes.

    All six – five men and one woman – were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977.

    The phone-hacking investigation has already resulted in the closing of Murdoch’s New of the World tabloid in London. The scandal broke when several of the tabloid’s reporters were accused of hacking voicemails of people they were investigating.

    In one instance, reporters were pursuing a case about a missing child, reporters hacked her voicemail to try to pursue the case faster than releases from the police would normally allow.

    As the scandal grew in scope, including accusations of police bribery, investigators in the U.S. have begun to look into whether News Corp. has engaged in similar practices within the U.S.

    Rebekah Brooks also oversaw a campaign of “naming and shaming” suspected pedophiles in the News of the World while she was there. This bypassed the usual justice procedures and led to vigilante actions, including against innocent people. Brooks defended her actions. But, her reputation abong Britons has become, shall we say, sullied.

    (image)@carlmaxim
    Carl Maxim    Rebekah Brooks arrested. She has the right to make one phone call. Everyone else has the right to listen in.(image) 8 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@boobygraffoe
    boothby graffoe    Rebekah Brooks arrested. We must all try to follow her example and not start speculating on the outcome of the case without the full facts.(image) 51 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@thewritertype
    paul bassett davies    “Rebekah Brooks, you are under arrest. Anything you say may be sold to your newspapers in the usual way.” #hackgate(image) 5 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Queen_UK
    Elizabeth Windsor    You’re nicked, Rebekah Brooks.(image) 6 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@brokenbottleboy
    Mic Wright    Obviously Rebekah Brooks is innocent until proven guilty. It’s an assumption she made for everyone ever featured in The Sun/NOTW.(image) 7 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Ellwynnnnn
    Ellen     I think Rebekah Brooks (who happens to be 43 and lives in Oxfordshire) should be arrested for spelling her name in such an offensive way.(image) 8 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@davessidekick
    Gideon Osborne    Today: Rebekah Brooks complains re lack of fair trial due to adverse media publicity of her. Tomorrow: Joe Pesci bemoans violence in films(image) 4 days ago via Seesmic ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@BrianCathcart
    Brian Cathcart    If you have tears…Rebekah Brooks, that respecter of legal process, is apparently a victim: http://t.co/WSQCv70y #leveson.(image) 4 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@derekrootboy
    Derek Thomas    Lord Stephens wined and dined with Rebekah Brooks, the woman who helped an axe murderer evade justice? Very interesting. #Leveson #c4news(image) 6 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • UK Newspapers To Charge For Online Access

    UK Newspapers To Charge For Online Access

    News International, News Corp’s British newspaper unit said today it will begin charging readers for access to the websites of The Times and Sunday Times of London starting in June.

    Both titles will launch new websites in early May, separating their online presence for the first time and replacing the existing, combined site, Times Online. The two new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers.

    Beginning in June, the new sites, www.thetimes.co.uk and www.thesundaytimes.co.uk, will be available for 1, or $1.48, for a day’s access or 2 for a week’s subscription. Payment will give customers access to both sites. The weekly subscription will also give access to the e-paper and certain new applications. Access to the online sites will be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers to The Times and The Sunday Times.

    Rebekah-Brooks "At a defining moment for journalism, this is a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition," said Rebekah Brooks, Chief Executive, News International. "We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value."

    "This is just the start. The Times and The Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach."

    The Sunday Times had an average print circulation of 1.2 million copies from September to January, down 3.8 percent from the previous year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.