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 – The trial of former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks on phone-hacking charges has been delayed by seven weeks.
Brooks and seven other defendants, including former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, both employed by Rupert Murdoch‘s publishing banner, were due to face phone-hacking charges in a three-month trial, starting Sept. 9.
The trial is now scheduled to start Oct. 28, 2013.
STORY: Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson Fail to Get Phone-Hacking Cases Dismissed
According to a report in The Guardian newspaper, the case was delayed after Justice Saunders adjourned the case for legal reasons at a hearing in the British capital’s famous central criminal court, the Old Bailey.
Those reasons cannot be reported, The Guardian said.
The other defendants in the case are former News of the World senior reporter James Weatherup, former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Ian Edmondson, former royal correspondent Clive Goodman, Brooks’ former secretary Cheryl Carter and Mark Hanna, head of security for News International.
Brooks faces five charges in relation to allegations of conspiracy to hack phones, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
Coulson is facing three charges in relation to allegations of conspiring to hack phones and allegations over a conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office when he was NoW editor.
Brooks, Coulson and the other defendants have all pleaded not guilty.
Brooks’ charges focus on her time at the U.K. publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., in particular her time as editor of the News of the World and editor of The Sun.
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