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Friday, 15 July 2011
News International CEO Rebekah Brooks has resigned, saying she feels a 'deep sense of responsibility' for the crisis enveloping the Murdoch media empire.
Rebekah Brooks has resigned as chief executive of News International, the British subsidiary of News Corp.
Ms Brooks was Rupert Murdoch's most senior newspaper executive in Britain.
She had been under intense pressure to stand down over a phone hacking scandal that has rocked Mr Murdoch's media empire.
News Corp has moved quickly to replace Ms Brooks by appointing Sky Italia's Tom Mockridge as the new chief executive of News International.
In an internal message to staff, Ms Brooks said she felt a 'deep sense of responsibility' for the crisis that erupted last week and resulted in the closure of News International's News of the World tabloid.
'I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted,' wrote Ms Brooks, herself a former editor of the paper.
'As Chief Executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place,' she wrote.
'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.'
FBI investigating 9/11 hacking claims
Meanwhile, the FBI is examining allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation may have tried to hack into the phone records of victims of the 11 September in the United States in 2001.
US Attorney-General Eric Holder said the investigation followed requests from members of the US Congress on the issue.
One of the senior politicians to make representations was senior Democratic Party Congressman Peter King.
Mr King, who represents an area in New York where many victims lived, said the allegations deserved to be fully looked at.
'We are aware of the allegations and we are looking into it,' a spokeswoman told AFP from the FBI's offices in New York, where specialised cybercrime and white collar crime units were expected to make the inquiries.
'For allegations into the 9/11 victims, this would be done out of New York,' a legal source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about the case.
A US Justice Department spokeswoman said only: 'The department does not comment specifically on investigations, though any time we see evidence of wrongdoing, we take appropriate action.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, a Republican, had sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller urging him to look into allegations of possible News Corporation impropriety in the US.
'The 9/11 families have suffered egregiously, but unfortunately they remain vulnerable against such unjustifiable parasitic strains. We can spare no effort or expense in continuing our support for them,' he said.
After decades as Britain's political kingmaker, Rupert Murdoch has seen his empire threatened by a wave of public outrage since The News of the World tabloid admitted illegally intercepting people's voice messages.
The phone hacking row had rumbled on for months but exploded last week after it emerged that the paper had targeted the messages of Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old girl, and of the families of the veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Murdoch shut the 168-year-old tabloid on Sunday, and on Wednesday pulled out of the biggest media takeover bid in British history, for pay-TV giant BSkyB, before accepting to be grilled by lawmakers to try to limit the damage.
News Corp's shares have plummeted in the past week, and the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal reported that the media tycoon was considering selling off his remaining British newspapers, The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun.
In the US, Murdoch's Fox News Channel is seen by many Democrats as a tool of their Republican rivals, while the network denies any bias.
So far, though, his more significant holdings in the United States have been unaffected by the scandal.
Source rte/news
News International CEO Rebekah Brooks has resigned, saying she feels a 'deep sense of responsibility' for the crisis enveloping the Murdoch media empire.
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Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks - News Intl CEO quits
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Tom Mockridge - Named as new Chief Executive
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News Corporation - Threatened by public outrage at phone hacking scandal
Rebekah Brooks has resigned as chief executive of News International, the British subsidiary of News Corp.
Ms Brooks was Rupert Murdoch's most senior newspaper executive in Britain.
She had been under intense pressure to stand down over a phone hacking scandal that has rocked Mr Murdoch's media empire.
News Corp has moved quickly to replace Ms Brooks by appointing Sky Italia's Tom Mockridge as the new chief executive of News International.
In an internal message to staff, Ms Brooks said she felt a 'deep sense of responsibility' for the crisis that erupted last week and resulted in the closure of News International's News of the World tabloid.
'I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted,' wrote Ms Brooks, herself a former editor of the paper.
'As Chief Executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place,' she wrote.
'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.'
FBI investigating 9/11 hacking claims
Meanwhile, the FBI is examining allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation may have tried to hack into the phone records of victims of the 11 September in the United States in 2001.
US Attorney-General Eric Holder said the investigation followed requests from members of the US Congress on the issue.
One of the senior politicians to make representations was senior Democratic Party Congressman Peter King.
Mr King, who represents an area in New York where many victims lived, said the allegations deserved to be fully looked at.
'We are aware of the allegations and we are looking into it,' a spokeswoman told AFP from the FBI's offices in New York, where specialised cybercrime and white collar crime units were expected to make the inquiries.
'For allegations into the 9/11 victims, this would be done out of New York,' a legal source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about the case.
A US Justice Department spokeswoman said only: 'The department does not comment specifically on investigations, though any time we see evidence of wrongdoing, we take appropriate action.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, a Republican, had sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller urging him to look into allegations of possible News Corporation impropriety in the US.
'The 9/11 families have suffered egregiously, but unfortunately they remain vulnerable against such unjustifiable parasitic strains. We can spare no effort or expense in continuing our support for them,' he said.
After decades as Britain's political kingmaker, Rupert Murdoch has seen his empire threatened by a wave of public outrage since The News of the World tabloid admitted illegally intercepting people's voice messages.
The phone hacking row had rumbled on for months but exploded last week after it emerged that the paper had targeted the messages of Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old girl, and of the families of the veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Murdoch shut the 168-year-old tabloid on Sunday, and on Wednesday pulled out of the biggest media takeover bid in British history, for pay-TV giant BSkyB, before accepting to be grilled by lawmakers to try to limit the damage.
News Corp's shares have plummeted in the past week, and the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal reported that the media tycoon was considering selling off his remaining British newspapers, The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun.
In the US, Murdoch's Fox News Channel is seen by many Democrats as a tool of their Republican rivals, while the network denies any bias.
So far, though, his more significant holdings in the United States have been unaffected by the scandal.
Source rte/news
