NEWS INT’L CHIEF BROOKS POCKETED $17.4 MILLION ON EXIT

Reports emerged today (Thursday) that Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of News International, News Corp’s British newspaper unit, received a “golden parachute” of some $17.4 million after being forced to step down during the height of the phone-hacking scandal last year. She was arrested twice this year, once on charges of conspiring to intercept communications […]

TWO EX-NEWS CORP EXECS CHARGED WITH BRIBERY

Two former heads of News International — the umbrella group comprising News Corp’s British newspapers — were among five people formally charged today (Tuesday) with bribing public officials in exchange for confidential information. The two are Andy Coulson, who after leaving News International became the spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, and Rebekah Brooks, often […]

TRIAL OF MURDOCH’S TOP ASSOCIATES SET FOR NEXT YEAR

Several top executives and journalists for Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World returned to court today for pretrial formalities that included the judge’s announcement that their trials will begin in September of next year. Among the former News of the World employees who face a general charge of “conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications” were […]

ELISABETH MURDOCH CHALLENGES BROTHER JAMES IN EDINBURGH ADDRESS (Updated)

In a speech that suddenly — and surprisingly — seemed to lift her ahead of her brothers as the heir apparent within the News Corp media empire, Elisabeth Murdoch said on Friday that in the aftermath of the telephone hacking and bribery scandals affecting the company’s British newspapers, the organization needs to “discuss, affirm and […]

MURDOCH’S TOP LIEUTENANTS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES

The telephone-hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers in the U.K. escalated to new heights today (Tuesday) as Andy Coulson, Prime Minister David Cameron’s former spokesman, and Rebekah Brooks, the former head of News International, were notified that they would be charged with conspiracy to intercept communications. Prosecutors said that the alleged crimes were committed between […]

EX-NEWS INTERNATIONAL CHIEF DEFIANT AFTER BEING CRIMINALLY CHARGED

The former head of News International, the umbrella group for News Corp’s British newspapers, lashed out at authorities on Tuesday after she was formally charged with perverting the course of justice by allegedly attempting to conceal information about telephone hacking and bribing police and other public officials by reporters and editors working for NI’s News […]

EX-NEWS CORP EXEC CRIMINALLY CHARGED IN SCANDAL

Rebekah Brooks, who was once one of Rupert Murdoch’s closest associates — sometimes called his protégée — is among the first persons criminally charged in the scandal that has hit Murdoch’s newspaper business in Britain The Crown Prosecution Service — comparable to the U.S. Attorney General’s office — accused Brooks, the former head of News […]

LAWYER SAYS MURDOCH TOLD “A SHAMEFUL LIE”

Saying that Rupert Murdoch’s reference on Thursday to a lawyer at the now defunct News of the World taking charge of a cover-up of the newspaper’s telephone hacking “can only refer to me,” Tom Crone has denounced the allegation as “a shameful lie.” Crone also came to the defense of the newspaper’s former editor, Colin […]

BOOK: NEWS CORP TRIED TO INTIMIDATE U.K. LAWMAKERS

After a parliamentary committee began investigating allegations of telephone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World in 2010, the then-editor of the paper, Colin Myler, instructed its reporters to “find out everything you can about every single member,” Labor MP Tom Watson told a news conference in London’today (Thursday). Watson, who spearheaded the investigation […]

FORMER NEWS INTERNATIONAL CHIEF QUESTIONED AGAIN BY POLICE

Rebekah Brooks, once regarded as the most powerful woman in the British news media, was questioned by police again today (Thursday) purportedly about new evidence of illegal activity turned over to them by News Corp’s management and standards committee. Brooks was arrested last week on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, a […]

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