Four Admit Selling Info To Rupert Murdoch’s Sun While His Times Nabs Paper Of The Year

Former Rupert Murdoch lieutenant Rebekah Brooks and former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson appeared in a London court today on charges of allegedly conspiring to bribe public officials. While both of their cases were adjourned to another date, according to BBC News, four others pleaded guilty to selling information to the News Corp.-owned Sun tabloid. Two former police officers, an ex-prison officer and a public official (who was not named for legal reasons) are the first to plead guilty to misconduct in a public office under Scotland Yard’s three linked investigations into illegal acts by journalists. Brooks, formerly chief of News Corp. press arm News International, and Coulson, also both face charges in the phone-hacking investigation. The provisional trial date is September 9 this year.

Meanwhile, in a bit of good news for News International, The Times and Sunday Times were awarded nine UK Press Awards on Thursday night, including Newspaper of the Year and Scoop of the Year for The Times and Sports Team of the Year for the Sunday Times. Occasional Twitter user Murdoch sent out a few missives about politics yesterday, but there was no shout out for the wins.

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Rupert Murdoch Expected To Hold Talks With London Times Directors This Week

After Times Newspapers independent directors refused to approve Rupert Murdoch’s appointment of editors to The Times and Sunday Times last week, the News Corp. chief has flown to London to hold a summit meeting, The Guardian reports. The visit is expected to include “clear-the-air” talks with the Times Newspapers directors who were given oversight under the terms that allowed Murdoch to acquire the papers in 1981. Creating a potential standoff, the directors on Friday refused to accept News Corp.’s nominations of John Witherow and Martin Ivens for permanent appointments at The Times and Sunday Times, respectively. Witherow, who has been editor of the Sunday Times for 18 years, is replacing James Harding at the helm of The Times on an acting basis for now, but that’s understood to be a source of some consternation. Harding left the paper in December saying, “It has been made clear to me that News Corporation would like to appoint a new editor of The Times. I have, therefore, agreed to stand down.” Murdoch was seen in the newsroom at The Sun and The Times on Monday. In separate but related news, the Crown Prosecution Service said today it will charge defense editor of The Sun, Virginia Wheeler, with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office as part of the ongoing Operation Elveden inquiry. Both former News International chief Rebekah BrooksRead More »

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Rebekah Brooks And Andy Coulson Will Face Criminal Charges Over Alleged Payments To Public Officials

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are already facing criminal charges in relation to the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked News Corp.‘s UK press arm, News International. Today, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said it would also level criminal charges against former News International chief Brooks and former News Of The World editor Coulson in relation to Operation Elveden, the investigation into alleged corrupt payments by newspapers to police officers and other public officials. Former Rupert Murdoch lieutenant Brooks was editor of The Sun newspaper from 2003-2009 and later became head of News International. Prosecutors today said they had concluded that Brooks, along with ex-Sun reporter John Kay and Ministry of Defence employee Bettina Jordan Barber, “should be charged with a conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2012. This conspiracy relates to information allegedly provided by Bettina Jordan Barber for payment, which formed the basis of a series of news stories published by The Sun. It is alleged that approximately £100,000 was paid” to Barber between 2004 and 2011.” Read More »

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Global Showbiz Briefs: ‘Skyfall’, BigTalk, News Corp, Screen NSW, IMAX

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday November 8, 2012 @ 10:48pm PST

‘Skyfall’ Brings Windfall To UK’s Odeon Circuit
On Thursday, Skyfall became the UK’s all-time highest grossing 007 movie, taking £57M ($91.2)in just 12 days. Odeon, Britain’s largest cinema chain, is reaping the benefits of the breakout Bond movie scoring the largest 7-day opening ever for a single film with £11.3M ($18.1M) in takings at its theaters. Its flagship cinema, Odeon Leicester Square, also set a new record with more than £530K ($848K) in Skyfall’s first week to overtake Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which took £495K ($792K at current exchange rate) in 2011. Odeon had a 30.5% market share of Skyfall’s UK box office in its first week. Read More »

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First Criminal Trial In Phone-Hacking Scandal Eyes September 2013 Start

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 26 September 2012 11:37 UK

Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and other former journalists from the now-shuttered News Of The World tabloid were in a London court today to face charges related to the phone-hacking scandal. After a short hearing at the Old Bailey court, a provisional trial date was set for September 9, 2013. Brooks, the former chief exec of News Corp.’s UK press ar News International, is accused of three counts of alleged phone hacking, including a general charge that could affect as many as 600 victims including celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. She also faces three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Read More »

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UK Prime Minister David Cameron To Appear On ‘Late Show With David Letterman’

David Cameron will become the first sitting UK Prime Minister to appear on The Late Show With David Letterman when he stops by for Wednesday’s show. In New York to give a keynote speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Cameron will use the slot to “bang the drum for British business” as he attempts to keep the country basking in the Olympics afterglow. The British press is having fun at the prospect with The Times calling it a “high-risk move” and The Guardian surmising it’s “brave, if slightly foolhardy” given Letterman’s ability to ask “awkward” questions. London Mayor Boris Johnson appeared on The Late Show in June and almost came up short when the host asked the famously disheveled politician how long he’d been cutting his own hair. A Downing Street aide told The Times that Cameron’s interview “will certainly have some light-hearted parts.” Perhaps not so light-hearted if Letterman queries the PM on his cozy relationship with some of the folks involved in the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal: Both his former communications director, Andy Coulson, and his neighbor, Rebekah Brooks, are set to appear in court Wednesday on charges related to the scandal.

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Global Showbiz Briefs: UK Phone Hacking, Network Ten, YOU On Demand, Nine Ent.

UK Phone-Hacking Could Haunt Murdochs For Three More Years
Rupert Murdoch could be 84 years old before the British police complete multiple investigations into The News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, who’s in charge of three overlapping probes into alleged criminal wrongdoing by journalists, said the task may continue through 2015, according to the Guardian. Akers, who is retiring in October, told a Commons home affairs select committee that “resources have been factored in for the next three years.” She said the force had identified more than 4,700 potential phone-hacking victims and found 1,069 were likely to have had their voicemail messages intercepted. So far 79 people have been arrested including former News International legal adviser Tom Crone, former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, her husband Charlie and Prime Minister David Cameron’s former spin doctor Andy Coulson. Akers said the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service would consider the likelihood of further criminal prosecutions, adding, “We are now prioritising getting cases through court.” Scotland Yard still has 185 officers working on the investigations.

Network Ten Shares Slide To Record Low
Australia’s Network Ten board members Lachlan Murdoch (chairman), Gina Rinehart and Jack Cowin seem powerless to stop a steep slide in the company’s fortunes. The share price hit a record low of 37.5 cents today, down from 80 cents in March, and broker Commonwealth Bank Global Markets Research forecasts it will sink as as low as 30 cents. Ten’sratings have taken a hit from the failures of three Australian shows launched after the London Olympics, Everybody Dance Now, I Will Survive and Don’t Tell the Bride, which resulted in the exit of chief programmer David Mott. The only new show that has any traction is Puberty Blues, a drama inspired by Bruce Beresford’s 1981 feature. The ratings of Ten’s main channel have declined by 5% this year while Nine is up by 5.3% and Seven is off by 0.3%. The broker said Ten is “working hard to reposition itself and build out a new programming lineup, however we see continued ratings/revenue share risk given the large number of hours that need to be replaced and expect the TV ad market to remain challenging.” - Don Groves
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Hundreds Of Alleged VIP Phone-Hacking Victims To Be Named: UK Independent

It’s expected to amount to the biggest single revelation of alleged phone-hacking victims. Prosecutors are preparing to announce the names of up to 600 people related to a criminal case against former News Of The World staffers. High-profile names already to surface include Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Sadie Frost, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Within weeks, however, the public face of the list will grow, according to The Independent. Expected to come to light are the names of more actors along with pop stars and politicians, the newspaper reports. Police are said to be contacting hundreds of people to let them know.
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Former News Of The World Journalists Given September Hearing Date

Andy Coulson and six other former News Of The World journalists appeared in a London court this morning on phone hacking charges relating to their time at the now defunct paper. The group were given a preliminary hearing date of Sept 26. That’s the same day that former News International chief exec Rebekah Brooks is expected to have a plea hearing on charges of perverting the course of justice amid the investigation into phone hacking at the News Corp-controlled tabloid. Coulson – who was also the former press secretary to UK prime minister David Cameron – and the other journalists have each been charged with conspiring to intercept the voice mails of well-known people and/or those associated with them. Those well-known people include Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Sadie Frost, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Earlier this month, Brooks, who has been arrested twice, was officially charged with phone hacking and will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on that charge on Sept 3.

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Ex-News Intl. Chief Rebekah Brooks Officially Charged In Phone Hacking Scandal

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday August 2, 2012 @ 1:22pm PDT

Joe Utichi contributes to Deadline’s UK coverage:

Rebekah Brooks Phone HackingTonight’s Scotland Yard development was expected. Rebekah Brooks will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 3rd. The police statement lists Brooks as “unemployed”. The 44-year-old executive who ran Rupert Murdoch‘s  UK newspaper business and top-edited the News Of the World answered bail at Lewisham police station. She stands accused of one general charge of alleged phone hacking between October 2000 and August 2006 that could affect as many as 600 victims including famous television and film stars including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jude Law, Sienna Miller, and Sadie Frost. The charges place Brooks at the center of the Crown Prosecution Service’s case against the defunct News Of The World tabloid. Brooks also faces specific charges of illegally accessing the mobile phone voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Read More »

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News Corp Subsidiary May Face Charges In Phone Hacking Scandal

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday August 1, 2012 @ 9:30pm PDT

The News International British publishing subsidiary acknowledged today that the company is aware that London police are considering whether to file charges against its board over phone hacking at the shuttered News of the World tabloid, Bloomberg reported. Prosecutors are advising the Metropolitan Police Service on possible corporate offenses. News International said deputy assistant police commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading the probe, had referred to possible corporate offenses but also “that she agreed that the current senior management and corporate approach at News International has been to assist and come clean,” News International said in a statement. Some 60 people have been arrested so far including former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks and News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who later served as an adviser to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron. Even if company officers could face criminal charges, prosecutors would have to prove that anyone charged was aware of wrongdoing.

Related:
Rupert Murdoch Resigns As Director Of News International
James Murdoch Completes His Exit From News Corp’s UK Newspaper Operations

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Former News Of The World Editors To Face Phone-Hacking Charges; Alleged Victims Include Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jude Law

Rebekah Brooks Phone Hacking ChargesRebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News Corp‘s News International and a one-time editor of the News Of The World, will face charges in connection with phone-hacking, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced this morning. Andy Coulson, the former News Of The World editor who went on to be Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications director, will also face charges. Along with a group of former News Of The World journalists, they are each charged with “conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006. The communications in question are the voicemail messages of well-known people and/or those associated with them,” said the CPS. Those well-known people include Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Sadie Frost, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. In all, there are more than 600 people whom the prosecution will say are victims of the offense. Brooks is specifically facing charges relating to the alleged hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s mobile phone as are a number of the other former journalists. The full list of charges can be read here. In total, eight people learned they would be charged today, while the CPS found insufficient evidence in the case of three other suspects. Decisions regarding two other suspects were deferred.

Related: News Corp Scandal One Year Later: Where Does The Publishing Arm Go From Here? Read More »

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Rebekah Brooks’ Text To David Cameron: “Professionally, We’re In This Together!”

UPDATE, 8:37 AM: David Cameron began the afternoon session at Leveson by immediately clarifying hesitant and vague comments he’d made earlier about his relationship with Rebekah Brooks. Noting that his wife keeps excellent diaries, he said he was only at his country residence, just down the road from Brooks, every six weeks in 2008 & 2009 and even less than that in 2010. Once that was handled, questioning turned to the BSKyB bid and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s role in it.

Cameron has vociferously defended Hunt, refusing to refer him to an independent probe on ministerial conduct. That’s despite revelations of a close relationship between Hunt’s and James Murdoch’s offices and his public support of the bid before being given oversight of it. When Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of his responsibility in the bid, after he was caught by undercover reporters saying he’d declared “war on Murdoch,” Hunt was installed to replace him. Although the affair was turned around in an afternoon, Cameron insisted, “It was not a rushed, botched decision.” It also recently came to light that on the same day, Downing Street had received legal advice that remarks made by Hunt could be seen as “prejudging the issues.” Cameron told the inquiry, “If anyone had told me that Jeremy Hunt couldn’t do the job, I wouldn’t have given him the job.”

PREVIOUS, 6:06 AM: Toeing a familiar line, UK Prime Minister David Cameron today denied he ever had an “overt” or a “covert” deal with the Murdochs in exchange for their newspapers’ support. The PM also added that he didn’t believe in “wink and nod deals” and shot down the idea that the Conservative Party and Murdoch’s UK press arm News International got together and plotted an exchange to pass News Corp’s BSkyB bid.

The morning session of the Leveson Inquiry into UK media ethichs – which Cameron himself convened last year – got off to a slow start with counsel Robert Jay lobbing softballs at the relaxed politician. Increasingly, however, Cameron appeared frustrated by questions about his relationships with the Murdochs and former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks – along with a pretty damning text message – and his hiring of former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson as his communications director.

On his relationship with Brooks, who is now facing charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice related to the phone-hacking scandal, Cameron was somewhat vague. The two had known each other for some time before she started dating Cameron’s Oxfordshire neighbor Charlie Brooks, but he said their relationship grew after she became engaged to and moved in with Brooks, “a few miles down the road.” When queried as to how often they saw each other, Cameron said, “It’s very difficult because I don’t have a record and I don’t want to give you an [inaccurate] answer… Sometimes quite a bit… Definitely once she started going out with Charlie… I was definitely seeing her more often. Charlie and I play tennis so… ” Read More »

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Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown Contradicts Rupert Murdoch Testimony

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday, 11 June 2012 14:21 UK

This is shaping up to be a big week at the Leveson Inquiry into UK media ethics: Several high-level politicians are set to take the stand, offering evidence on the relationship between government and big media. Off to a roaring start today with a game of “he said-he said”, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the hearing room that there was no evidence of a phone conversation between he and Rupert Murdoch in September of 2009. During the disputed call, Brown is alleged to have threatened the mogul. He also took shots at Murdoch’s News International and its former executive chairman, James Murdoch, who Brown said drove an “aggressive public agenda.” He further contradicted testimony given by former Murdoch lieutenant Rebekah Brooks, and said he had never been influenced by Rupert Murdoch. If he had suported Murdoch’s policies, Brown quipped, the UK wouldn’t be part of the European Union, England would be the 51st state of the U.S. — with Scotland the 52nd — and Murdoch “probably would have had us at war with France and Germany.” Read More »

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UK Won’t Investigate Culture Minister’s Role In News Corp’s BSkyB Bid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 31, 2012 @ 11:36am PDT

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he won’t launch a probe into whether Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt breached the ministerial code of conduct for Hunt’s part in overseeing News Corp’s ultimately failed bid for BSkyB. Hunt has been in the spotlight for his supposed close ties to News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch and son James, which raised eyebrows when he was handed a quasi-judicial role overseeing the $14B bid for the 61% of BSkyB that News Corp didn’t already own. During Hunt’s testimony today before the Leveson Inquiry charged with investigating UK media ethics, it was revealed he texted his congratulations to James Murdoch in December 2010 after News Corp’s bid cleared a regulatory hurdle. “Congratulations on Brussels,” Hunt texted to Murdoch after the European Commission ruled it would not block a deal. “Only Ofcom to go.” Not long after, Hunt was appointed the government overseer of the bid, which was scrapped in July as the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp-owned tabloid News Of The World erupted. Hunt told the inquiry today he would not have sent the text if he had known he was getting the overseer role. After watching Hunt today, Cameron said the Culture Minister acted “properly” throughout the period he was responsible for the bid.

Related: UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt To Turn Over Emails, Texts On BSkyB Bid Process Read More »

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Ex-News Corp Editor Andy Coulson Charged With Perjury In Scotland

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 31, 2012 @ 2:10am PDT

Andy Coulson ChargedScottish police have arrested and charged Andy Coulson, the former communications chief of British Prime Minister David Cameron and former editor of News Corp.’s News of the World tabloid, of committing perjury before the High Court in Glasgow, the Wall Street Journal reports. Coulson was taken to Scotland for questioning about his testimony at the perjury trial of former Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan in 2010. On the witness stand in that case, Coulson denied there was a culture of phone hacking at News of the World during his tenure. The paper alleged Sheridan had visited a swingers’ club. Sheridan was convicted of perjury and recently got out of prison.

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Tony Blair: It Would Be Strange If Politicians Didn’t Have Relationships With Big Media

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday, 28 May 2012 16:47 UK

In a moment reminiscent of last year’s shaving-cream pie attack on Rupert Murdoch at a Parliamentary committee hearing, an unwelcome guest infiltrated the Leveson Inquiry into UK media ethics today. This time, it was former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair testifying and the attack was a verbal one. An antiwar protester burst in shouting, “The man is a war criminal!” before being forcibly removed. Blair, who supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and who told the inquiry there was nothing odd about speaking with Murdoch three times before the war, was unruffled.

Related: UK Editor Arrested In News Corp Scandal

Earlier in the day, Blair said that as a politician, running afoul of a media group “means you are then effectively blocked from getting your message across.” Blair gave evidence as to his relationship with Rupert Murdoch and the relationship of politicians and the media in general. He avidly courted the News Corp chief from his early days as head of the Labour Party. After Blair paid a visit to Australia in 1995 in what he said was a “very deliberate and very strategic” move to curry favor, Murdoch famously said, “I suspect we’ll end up making love like two porcupines – very carefully.” Murdoch’s Sun newspaper backed Blair in all of his runs at office. Read More »

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Former News International Chief Tells UK Inquiry Of David Cameron’s Texts

Erstwhile News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks faced a grueling five hours of questioning Friday at the Leveson Inquiry into UK media ethics. The session focused largely on the relationship between politicians and the press and, as expected, it was confirmed that Brooks has had close dealings with senior British politicians. Those include current Prime Minister David Cameron, who, Brooks said, used to sign his text messages to her “DC” or “LOL” – which he thought meant “lots of love” until she corrected him that it meant “laugh out loud.” She did however refute the idea that Cameron at one time called her as many as 12 times a day. “That’s preposterous,” she said. Cameron did contact her regarding the phone-hacking scandal in 2010 she said, amid news reports of a bevy of civil suits against the ultimately-shuttered News Of The World. She maintained the conversations were general.

Related: Andy Coulson Testimony Shifts Focus From Rupert Murdoch To David Cameron

Brooks also said she spoke frequently with Rupert Murdoch – “sometimes every day” — when she was one of his senior executives. It’s been well-documented that Murdoch and Brooks were very tight, but she stopped short of confirming that the pair used to swim together during the News Corp chief’s visits to London as was put to her by inquiry counsel Robert Jay. “You need better sources,” she told Jay to laughter in the hearing room. Read More »

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Andy Coulson Testimony Shifts Focus From Rupert Murdoch To David Cameron

Former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson today said he did not believe in a “grand conspiracy” between News Corp‘s UK press arm, News International, and the UK’s Conservative Party. Coulson, who left the tabloid in 2007 and ultimately became Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief, was giving evidence before the Leveson Inquiry into UK media ethics. He also dismissed rumors that he had kept a detailed diary during his stint working for Cameron. But, it was revealed that he may have had access to government secrets that his security clearance did not cover. It’s also understood that the Conservatives did only perfunctory background checks on Coulson before he was hired. Those revelations come as the inquiry has recently begun to emphasize its focus on the relationship between Rupert Murdoch‘s camp and UK politicians. But rather than further tarnish the Murdoch name in Britain, the inquiry has lately had the effect of shifting attention from the Murdochs to Downing Street. The issue heated up with last month’s revelations of communications between Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s office and that of James Murdoch during the BSkyB bid process that News Corp eventually aborted. Cameron since has been under pressure to launch an inquiry into Hunt’s ministerial conduct, something he has been reluctant to do.

Related: UK Prime Minister David Cameron Denies “Grand Deal” With Murdochs On BSkyB

Coulson told the inquiry today that he didn’t think he was “pushed … Read More »

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