TRIAL OF MURDOCH’S TOP EXECS BEGINS IN LONDON

In what is being called by members of the British press “the trial of the century,” Rupert Murdoch’s longtime protégé Rebekah Brooks, the former CEO of News International, and Andy Coulson, the onetime editor of Murdoch’s tabloid News of the World who became Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman, appeared in London’s Old Bailey today (Monday), for the start of their trial on phone hacking and bribery charges. It is the first of what will likely be dozens of trials of former workers at Murdoch’s London newspapers, the now-defunct News of the World and the Sun. As the jury selection began, the judge, Justice John Saunders, warned, “The trial we are about to start will take a considerable length of time. It’s estimated the case may last until Easter.” He later told them, “It’s critical to the jury system … that a jury takes the case free from any preconceptions. From now on, you do not discuss the case with anyone.”