In 2011, one of the biggest international media industry stories was the phone hacking scandal at the News International U.K. newspaper unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The past year brought settlements with such celebrities as Hugh Grant and singer/actress Charlotte Church. But it also brought formal charges against former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson and others on charges of hacking. Brooks and others are also accused of conspiring to "pervert the course of justice." Trials are expected to start in the fall of 2013. More fallout will come in the new year from the Leveson Inquiry report that proposed stricter regulation of the British press, which is currently being hotly debated.
LONDON – Excerpts from former L.A. Galaxy soccer star David Beckham‘s autobiography cost Rupert Murdoch‘s The Sun and News of the World more than $1.6 million (£1 million).
The large payment to the English sports icon emerged during Friday’s appearance by Rebekah Brooks, the former CEO of New International, the U.K. newspaper arm of News Corp., on the witness stand during her trial, according to the The Guardian. (News International was renamed News UK during the June 2013 splitting of News Corp. into two entities: News Corp, sans period, and 21st Century Fox.)
Brooks, a former editor at both Murdoch publications, is charged with several counts, including phone hacking and obstruction of justice.
The million-dollar Beckham payment was disclosed as Brooks entered the second day of her defense against the charges, during which she also was quizzed about Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator used by NI to allegedly hack phones. (Mulcaire was jailed along with News of the World‘s then-royal editor Clive Goodman in 2007.)
According to British media reports, Brooks told the court that she did not know about News of the World‘s $153,000 (£92,000) annual contract with Mulcaire.
She told the jury that she was “incredibly close” to Coulson and called him her “best friend,” but said it had been wrong of the prosecution late last year to characterize their relationship as a six-year affair.
While they had several periods of “physical intimacy,” the prosecution had misinterpreted a letter she had written to him declaring her love in 2004.
“I seem to remember sometimes I would write things down to myself,” the The Guardian quoted her as saying. “Obviously, it’s a letter, and I probably woke up the next morning and thought better of it.”
The paper said that Brooks was close to tears when she discussed the relationships with Coulson and Kemp, at one point asking for a break.
She said she met her current husband, Charlie Brooks — also a co-defendant — in March 2007.
