Rebekah Brooks
Phil Noble/Reuters
There are excellent diaries covering this story, and I want to especially highlight our British brothers and sisters, in this case
Brit and by
DiegoUK, who have added much to our understanding of what's going on. Consider this an acknowledgment.
My own posts, Murdoch editor, CEO Rebekah Brooks resigns in disgrace and Another Murdoch resignation: Les Hinton of Wall Street Journal resigns followed the resignation stories, while the NY Times (Stain From Tabloids Rubs Off on a Cozy Scotland Yard) highlights why it was no surprise Scotland Yard wasn't the one to arrest Brooks, it was the Metropolitan Police. The Times notes where we are with this:
Ms. Brooks was editor of the newspaper at the time but has denied knowledge of phone-hacking. In response to the crisis, the Murdoch family has closed The News of the World and withdrawn a $12 billion bid to assume control of Britain’s biggest satellite broadcaster.
They've also lost their WSJ publisher and await FBI investigation of possible hacking here in the US.
From the invaluable Guardian:
An arrest by appointment on a Sunday by police is unusual.
In a statement the Met said: "The MPS [Metropolitan police service] has this afternoon, Sunday 17 July, arrested a female in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking.
"At approximately 12.00 a 43-year-old woman was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers from Operation Weeting [phone hacking investigation] together with officers from Operation Elveden [bribing of police officers investigation]. She is currently in custody.
"She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
"The Operation Weeting team is conducting the new investigation into phone hacking.
There's no bottom yet to this; stay tuned.
[UPDATE] from WaPo:
Her arrest raises the stakes for News Corp., whose reputation has been severely damaged by the mounting scandal, which also forced the company to drop its bid for the lucrative British Sky Broadcasting Corp last week. With Brooks – who Murdoch once described as a being like a “daughter” to him – now arrested, experts were questioning whether James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s 38-year--old son who overseas News Corp’s British interests, could yet become entangled in the scandal.
Both father and son have agreed to appear before Parliament on Tuesday, when they are expected to be grilled by lawmakers.
[UPDATE] from NY Times:
While the police investigation has largely centered on cellphone hacking by journalists at The News of the World, it has now spread to the investigative unit of The Sunday Times, a person familiar with internal News Corporation discussions said. That person, as well as a person with knowledge of the scope of the inquiry, said the investigation would expand to include hacking into e-mail accounts and other online privacy invasions.
One target of the investigation is Jonathan Rees, a private detective employed by The News of the World with ties to corrupt police officers and a criminal record. Tom Watson, a Labour member of Parliament who has been briefed on the inquiry, said the police had evidence that Mr. Rees was paid by News International and that he had claimed to have met with members of The Sunday Times investigation unit.