Friday, 15 July 2011

Phone hacking: News International chief Brooks quits 15 July 2011 Last updated at 09:48 GMT


Media analyst Steve Hewlett: 'News International appears to be on the run'
Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, has resigned, the company has confirmed.
Her departure follows days of increasing pressure to step down as the phone hacking crisis grew.
In a statement, she said she felt a "deep responsibility for the people we have hurt".
News Corporation is to take out national press adverts this weekend to apologise for what it described as "the wrongdoings at the News of the World".
Prime Minister David Cameron thinks that Rebekah Brooks's resignation was "the right decision", his official spokesman said.
Rebekah Brooks was the paper's editor between 2000 and 2003, during which time murder victim Milly Dowler's phone was hacked.
Dowler family solicitor Mark Lewis
She said she wanted to "reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place".
Her statement went on: "I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate.
"This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past."
Ms Brooks, 43, who had been with News International for 22 years, bowed to the international pressure piling up on the company.
She has been replaced by Tom Mockridge, who was in charge of News Corporation's Italian broadcasting arm.
In other developments:
In a message to News International staff, News Corporation's chief executive in Europe, James Murdoch, hailed Ms Brooks as "one of the outstanding editors of her generation" who "can be proud of many accomplishments as an executive". "We support her as she takes this step to clear her name," he said.
National apology
Mr Murdoch revealed that News Corporation was planning to use national press adverts this weekend to apologise to the nation for wrongdoing at the News of the World.
"We are also sending letters to our commercial partners with an update on the actions we are taking.
"The company has made mistakes. It is not only receiving appropriate scrutiny, but is also responding to unfair attacks by setting the record straight."
Mr Murdoch praised new chief executive Tom Mockridge as "a highly respected and accomplished media executive", who had shown "leadership and integrity" in creating the Sky Italia 24-hour TV news channel in Italy.
The leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, said: "It is right that Rebekah Brooks has resigned. No-one should exercise power without responsibility."
John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said he believed her resignation had been "inevitable".
"I think many people expected it to come rather sooner, but I think her position was extremely difficult," he said.
"I think the most shocking revelation of all, perhaps, was the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone, which took place when she was the editor of the paper and there has obviously been a stream of revelations since then."
Ms Brooks is still expected to appear alongside Rupert and James Murdoch at Tuesday's sitting of Mr Whittingdale's committee.



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