Rebekah Brooks resigned as chief executive of News Corp’s British newspaper unit on Friday, yielding to political and investor pressure over a phone hacking scandal undermining Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on both sides of the Atlantic.
The 43-year-old Brooks, a former editor of the scandal-hit News of the World newspaper and of the flagship tabloid the Sun, was a close confidante of Murdoch, who had signaled her importance to him when he flew into London to manage the crisis at the News International subsidiary.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as his Labour opponents, had said Brooks should have quit. Cameron said last week that an initial offer by her to resign should have been accepted. On Thursday, an influential Saudi investor in News Corp said he agreed.
Brooks, whose youth, mane of red hair and sharp tongue have helped give her a high public profile in Britain, said in a message to staff: “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 endeavors to fix the problems of the past.
“Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted.”
Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 July 2011 13.29 BST
David Cameron has welcomed the resignation of Rebekah Brooks but made clear that the former News International chief executive should still give evidence to the House of Commons culture select committee next week.
The prime minister, who was a guest of Brooks at her Oxfordshire home days after stripping Vince Cable of his responsibilities for the BSkyB bid in December, was told of her resignation at Chequers shortly before a planned meeting of the cabinet.
His spokesman said: “He thinks it’s the right decision. He said the other day he would have accepted her resignation.”
Asked whether Brooks should still give evidence to the culture select committee, the spokesman said: “I don’t think he would change that. I presume the committee will still want to see her.”
Ed Miliband also welcomed the resignation but said that Rupert Murdoch still had questions to answer. The Labour leader, who originally called for Brooks to resign on 5 July, said: “It is right that Rebekah Brooks has finally taken responsibility for the terrible events that happened on her watch, like the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone. No one in this country should exercise power without responsibility.
“But as I said when I called for her resignation 10 days ago, this is not just about one individual but about the culture of an organisation. Rupert Murdoch says that NewsCorp has handled these allegations ‘extremely well’. He still hasn’t apologised to the innocent victims of hacking. He clearly still doesn’t get it. When he comes to House of Commons next week, people will expect him to start taking some responsibility and apologise for the illegal actions which happened in his organisation.”
A spokesman for Nick Clegg said: “This is the right thing for Rebekah Brooks to have done. It is an important first step in cleaning up this mess. People will, rightly, expect Ms Brooks to come to the select committee next week to give evidence.
“People still need answers. She owes it to the victims of phone hacking and the country at large to explain her role in what happened.”
The prime minister’s spokesman declined to say whether he regrets having met Brooks on a regular social basis. They are members of what has been dubbed by political commentator Peter Oborne as the “Chipping Norton set”.
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Rebekah Brooks: where it all went wrong
News International chief executive resigns after criticism from second largest shareholder and Rupert Murdoch’s daughter
Lisa O’Carroll
guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 July 2011 13.11 BST
In the end Rebekah Brooks’s special relationship with Rupert Murdoch wasn’t quite special enough to save her. Her status as the “fifth daughter” in the family was withdrawn as the support previously shown by Murdoch family members and key shareholders in the News Corporation empire turned to dust in just 24 hours.
On Thursday, the 80-year-old media tycoon had come out all guns blazing, telling his Wall Street Journal he would get over the crisis and insisting his company had handled the phone-hacking scandal “extremely well”.
But later that day the corporate death knell was sounded for Brooks after the second largest shareholder in News Corporation gave an extraordinary interview to BBC’s Newsnight (interview starts 26 minutes in) from his yacht in Cannes: “For sure she has to go, you bet she has to go,” declared Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Alsaud.
“Ethics to me are very important. I will not deal with a lady or a man that has any sliver of doubt on her or his integrity.”
Worse, the friendship Brooks so carefully nurtured with Murdoch’s second eldest daughter, Elisabeth, over the last 10 years appeared to have crumbled.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the 42-year-old TV executive had told friends that Brooks had “fucked the company”.
And so, eight days after she announced the dramatic decision to close the News of the World, Brooks fell on her sword.
“I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation … this time my resignation has been accepted,” she said in an email to staff just before 10am on Friday morning.
It was all so different last Thursday when Brooks told shocked News of the World staff that the paper was being shut down.
While they were losing their jobs, she was going to stay on despite the public revulsion over revelations days earlier that while she was editor of the paper murdered teenager Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked.
She said she needed to stay at the helm to act as “lightning rod” for all the negativity raining down on the company, and explained to baffled and dispirited staff that in a year’s time they would understand why she had stayed on.
Journalists within News International thought her decision to tough it out showed hubris in the extreme. “She was a timebomb strapped to Murdoch’s leg,” quipped one.
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A token to deflect attention from Murdock?
And you are investing in Murdock’s company, why?
said this on the 13th, I think it is starting to sink in how serious this is:
His gamble appeared to be paying off, as News Corp shares stabilised and several leading shareholders came out in support of the Murdochs. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal – News Corp’s biggest investor after the Murdoch family – gave a series of interviews saying the closure of News of the World was sufficient to draw a line under the scandal, and News Corp itself remained a powerful company. “News is a lot bigger than a newspaper,” he said. The Guardian
is Murdoch’s son, so this isn’t a surprise. She’ll have a parachute woven of the finest gold cloth and spun with precious gems – as long as she takes the heat. She’ll have the best lawyers, the best defense possible, be set for many lifetimes. If she would have balked, they would have thrown her in the fire and damned her name until the end of time.
As someone else commented online, the endgame here is what do Newscorp’s shareholders do if this gets worse? If the board does not kick the Murdochs from the positions of power the stock will continue to sink. As the stock sinks, the stock holders will start to bring class action suits against the board to do its damn job. How long can even the Murdochs hold out against the power of capitalism and publicly held corporate laws?
They’ll still be rich, they’ll still be out of jail, but they might also be without a media outlet to speak of. On that day, I will open a fine bottle of wine and have a little karmic celebration…
ironic if the Saudi Prince ends up with majority shares.
I wonder if this is about Murdoch’s ability to control the Tea Party. The Republican Party is split with its Tea Party members dead set against raising the debt ceiling. Perhaps this scandal is really the U.S. putting the screws in Murdoch to tone back the Tea Party’s objections. There is a LOT at stake if the U.S. defaults.