Rebekah Brooks 'worst henchperson of all time'

Ex-News International chief Rebekah Brooks has taken quite a kicking over the phone hacking affair. Now the latest issue of The Word magazine has chosen her as "the worst henchperson of all time", ahead of Alastair Campbell, the Ogrons from Dr. Who, Donald Rumsfeld and Big Vern from Viz.



Joint winners of the The Word's best henchmen of all time are Snoop and Chris Partlow from The Wire.

Daily Telegraph suggests Rebekah Brooks is still on NI payroll despite resigning as chief executive

Tim Walker in the Daily Telegraph's Mandrake column today suggests Rebekah Brooks may still be on the News International payroll.

He writes: "A big song and dance was made of Rebekah Brooks’s belated decision to resign as the chief executive of News International as the phone-hacking scandal engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s empire, but it has not had any great effect upon her standard of living.

"I am reliably informed that she remains on the company payroll. 'My understanding is that Rupert has told her to travel the world on him for a year and then he will find a job for her when the scandal has died down,' whispers my informant.

"When I call News International to inquire if Brooks is still on the payroll, they refer me to her personal publicist at Bell Pottinger. 'We’re offering no comment on your query regarding Rebekah,' Steve Double tells me, helpfully."

Brooks: 'All Fleet Street used private investigators'

Ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks told the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee the News of the World used private investigators when she was editor as she claimed did "every newspaper in Fleet Street".

She said her use of private investigators while editor of the News of the World was legitimate and part of the paper's Sarah's Law campaign to track down and identify paedophiles which was in the public interest.

Brooks said she had never met the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and had not heard his name until he was arrested in 2006.

She also said she felt "sick and disgust" when she heard the allegations that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked. Brooks said she only knew about it when the story broke in the media in the last few weeks.

"I don't know anyone who would sanction listening to Milly's phone. This is the most shocking thing I've heard about potential journalists at News international."

She said a newsroom was based on trust and editors had to rely on their journalists behaving in a proper manner.

Brooks said she had never authorised a payment to police or gone horse riding with the Prime Minister.

• Brooks said she would like to be invited back by the committee when she was free from legal constraints.
• The Observer; 'Why we used private investigator'

Shock new editorial job offer for Rebekah Brooks

The Chipping Norton News, a community newspaper staffed by volunteers, has made a job offer to local resident Rebekah Brooks as she searches for a new post after resigning as chief excutive of News International following the phone hacking scandal.

The job offer to join the News comes via a letter today in probably Brooks' least favourite newspaper - the Guardian.

Keith Ruddle, of the Chipping Norton News editorial team, says Brooks, a member of the "Chipping Norton set," is welcome to volunteer to work for the town's "thriving community organ."

He writes: "If Rebekah joins the News, she will see it is about real communication of news and views for the community and by the community. No hacking, no blagging – only honest amateur sleuthing, as polite and as balanced as possible – we on the editorial team don't want bricks through our windows.

"Oh and yes, please note the job of supreme editor is not up for grabs."

Now Rebekah Brooks says good-bye at NI

Rebekah Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International today saying: "The reputation of the company we love so much, as well as the press freedoms we value so highly, are all at risk.

"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 added: "My resignation makes it possible for me to have the freedom and the time to give my full cooperation to all the current and future inquiries, the police investigations and the CMS appearance."

News Corporation announced that Tom Mockridge has been appointed to the role of chief executive officer of News International. Mockridge will assume responsibility for his new role with immediate effect following the resignation of Brooks. He joins News International from Sky Italia where he has been chief executive since 2003.

• According to Press Gazette, News International will publish apologies over the phone-hacking scandal in every national newspaper this weekend. In a statement sent to staff this morning, News International chairman James Murdoch said the company will “apologise to the nation for what has happened”.
• Brooks, when editor of the Sun giving the Hugh Cudlipp Lecture, on the future of the press: "Newspaper pessimism is age old, nearly as old as some of the media commentators."
• Brooks on the Guardian phone hacking allegations in a letter to the culture, media and sport committee's chairman John Whittingdale in July 2009: "It [the Guardian] is rushing out high volumes of coverage and repeating allegations by such sources as unnamed Met officers implying that 'thousands' of individuals were the object of illegal phone hacking, an assertion that is roundly contradicted by the Met Assistant Commissioner's [John Yates] statement yesterday."
• Ivor Gaber, professor of political journalism at London's City University, commented: "The resignation of Rebekah Brooks raises two important questions. Firstly, why did she take so long to do this? Secondly, is this unrelated to her summons to appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee?"
• NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “This is too little too late. We all know she has worked hand-in-glove with James Murdoch and they are equally culpable in terms of the cover up. This will be cold comfort to the hundreds of journalists who have lost their jobs at the News of the World.”