Prior to her resignation, Brooks headed the British wing of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire. The [...]]]>

Rebekah Brooks (photo courtesy the Associated Press)

Rebekah Brooks, former editor of News of the World and CEO of News International until she resigned last week, has been arrested.

Prior to her resignation, Brooks headed the British wing of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire. The relationship was never chilly, not even after word broke that under her directive some 4,000 (and counting) people had their phones and voicemails hacked by News of the World, Britain’s largest tabloid which ceased operations after 168 years in operation due to the scandal. That closing, in fact, was done in large part in an attempt to protect Brooks from further scrutiny.

Brooks arrest isn’t the end of the investigation, and it’s likely that as much as people try to poo-poo it, Murdoch himself is going to be called into account. Brooks was his protege and the two were very close. Murdoch not having knowledge of the practice is impossible, particularly since many in the media and government had known for years that it was standard practice at the paper.

Last week it was reported that the FBI was investigating concerns that victims of the September 11th attacks were also victims of the UK’s phone hacking policy.

Outrageously, Murdoch’s American wing of his news/media empire is trying to spin him and the former paper as victims in the affair and asking why they’re getting so much flack in a “media pile-on” while Citibank and the Pentagon were also hacked into in the last year.

I’m going to let that sit for a minute and assure you that, yes, you read it correctly. Fox News wants you to think that the VICTIMS of hacking, including the United States government, are in the same boat as the PERPETRATORS.

See the video below. I’ll let the ridiculousness speak for itself, except to say that the insinuation that “99%” of the current staff at News of the World that lost their jobs certainly were NOT innocent. There are and have been investigations and arrests related to phone hacking and police bribery that occurred as late as last year, and that’s only what’s been released publicly. The outrage here isn’t just that it happened so long ago, but that it continued for so long.

For a bonus giggle, check out the end where their expert urges us to move on to matters of greater importance. Then check out what they immediately segue to.

There are many surprising, shocking, and outrageous aspects to the revelation and extent of News of the World‘s invasive phone hacking. One of the more intriguing ones to me personally is the total lack of shame and decorum shown by guilty parties. In the above [...]]]>

There are many surprising, shocking, and outrageous aspects to the revelation and extent of News of the World‘s invasive phone hacking. One of the more intriguing ones to me personally is the total lack of shame and decorum shown by guilty parties. In the above video, writer/comedian Steve Coogan and former BBC Director General Greg Dyke sit in on a news program panel with former News of the World editor and contributor Paul McMullen. Coogan and Dyke alternate between outrage and outright astonishment at McMullen’s defense of the practice. He sees nothing wrong with what was done and seems to regret more that they won’t be able to get away with it any longer.

His stance and some statements border on self-parody, but the man himself likely believes it, as does the rest of the staff of the now defunct 168-year-old British institution. On Sunday, after completing their last day of work, the staff triumphantly marched out of the building in a show of unity, holding the final edition of the paper that bore the headline “Thank You and Goodbye.” None of them hid their faces in shame, nor did they show regret for what the paper had done or become. Rather than hang their head in shame they held them high, while Britain stood agape at their audacity.

Yet, all knew of the not only illegal but highly unethical practices being employed by the paper. Four thousand individuals – and that’s just a conservative estimates – had their privacy violated for the sake of pushing a yellow rag that masqueraded as a public service. Common sense dictates that everyone knew it was happening, but reports go further than that and state that it was a very well known practice amongst not just the News of the World but the police that were paid off and, more often than not, the victims who were told that pursuing justice was a fruitless endeavor due to corruption at various levels of the justice system and British Parliament (Andy Coulson, whose last job was as Prime Minister David Cameron‘s Press Secretary, was arrested late last week). 

But there were no victims of circumstance amongst the former staff of the Murdoch paper. Not even Murdoch himself, who must have known what his right hand, Rebekah Brooks, was doing. Yet they were defiant to the end, because just like McMullen, in their mind no wrong was done. This is the danger of breaking ethical guidelines on a regular basis: it becomes the norm, and with it comes a sense that they’re entitled to do the wrong thing with no repercussions.

Many who marched and cheered after their final day at work will end up with work elsewhere…that is, if they can avoid jail sentences. Surely, many will avoid it by turning over evidence to authorities. In the end, though, whether they’re behind bars or narrowly avoiding it, that sense of guilt over what they’ve done will elude them. Someone just went too far and got caught, that’s all, and it’s worth it in the end for a dollar and glory.

It all started with a scandal over five years ago, when it was revealed that a journalist had hired a private investigator to hack into the phones of hundreds [...]]]> After more than 168 years, Britain’s News of the World will permanently cease operations effective this Sunday.

It all started with a scandal over five years ago, when it was revealed that a journalist had hired a private investigator to hack into the phones of hundreds of mobile phones. The reporter plead guilty, but it was revealed to be far from an isolated incident when The Guardian revealed that  journalists hacked into a missing girl’s voicemail and deleted messages, giving family members the mistaken impression she might still be alive. She was found dead several months later.

Four days and three arrests later, it’s been announced that Parliament will launch a public inquiry into the matter and News of the World has been permanently shut down by parent company News International, part of Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp conglomerate (which stateside is best known for 20th Century Fox and Fox News).

Over the course of four days a publication goes from #1 to shut down. Crazy.

Coverage from The Guardian:

• Missing girl’s phone was hacked by News of the World
• Family of murdered girl shocked by hacking revelations
• Investigative journalist Nick Davies gives a timeline and summation of the events that led to the closing
• Read the announcement on News of the World’s Website