News International’s chief executive Rebekah Brooks finally resigned on Friday after almost a fortnight of pressure to quit over the phone-hacking allegations engulfing the Rupert Murdoch publishing company.
Her resignation has been accepted by News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, who till now been staunchly defending her, and Sky Italia CEO Tom Mockridge was immediately named to replace her as chief executive of the publishing company.
News International, facing political and commercial pressure over the phone-hacking allegations, also announced it would formally apologise to the UK.
“This weekend, News International will run advertisements in all national newspapers. We will apologise to the nation for what has happened. We will follow this up in the future with communications about the actions we have taken to address the wrongdoing that occurred,” News International chairman James Murdoch said in a statement Friday.
The Murdochs, both father and son, also buckled before political pressure in the UK and announced they would attend the hearing of the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee on Tuesday. The Murdochs had initially declined to attend the meeting and the committee had served formal summons on Thursday.
In a letter to committee chairman John Whittingdale, James Murdoch confirmed that both he and his father would attend the hearing.
News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch, who gave his only interview on the phone-hacking scandal engulfing his publishing empire to his company-owned Wall Street Journal, claimed the firm had handled the phone-hacking crisis “extremely well in every possible way” and has made just “minor mistakes”.
“We think it’s important to absolutely establish our integrity in the eyes of the public... I felt that it’s best just to be as transparent as possible,” he said, adding that “some of the things that have been said in Parliament, some of which are total lies.”
Mr Murdoch also insisted that the damage to his company was “nothing that will not be recovered”. News Corp. will set up an independent committee, headed by a “distinguished non-employee” to investigate all charges of improper conduct, he said.
The head of London’s Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson, faced questions over Scotland Yard’s decision to hire former News Of The World journalist Neil Wallis, who was arrested in the phone-hacking inquiry, as a PR consultant.
“Chamy Media, owned by Neil Wallis, former executive editor of the News of the World, was appointed to provide strategic communication advice and support to the MPS, including advice on speech writing and PR activity, while the Met’s deputy director of public affairs was on extended sick leave recovering from a serious illness,” the Met police said in a statement.
“The contract ran from October 2009 until September 2010, when it was terminated by mutual consent,” the Met police said.
The police chief briefed London mayor Boris Johnson on the issue even as home secretary Theresa May wrote to him asking for explanations.
The $60 billion News Corporation, which made about $33 billion revenue in the last financial year, is struggling to contain the fallout of the phone hacking scandal after it was forced to close down News of the World and drop its bid for 100 per cent takeover of BSkyB in face of public and political condemnation.
Labour MP Tom Watson, who along with another Labour MP Chris Bryant has campaigned on phone-hacking issue, said the focus has shifted on James Murdoch after the resignation of Ms Brooks. “The focus of attention will be on him and his corporate leadership of the company,” Mr Watson, who is a member of the committee examining the Murdochs, told the BBC.
Ms Brooks, a former editor of the Sun and News of the World, issued a statement on her resignation on Friday morning to the staff at News International. “As chief executive, 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 wrote.
Rebekah Brooks, 43, who worked for News International for 22 years, said her presence was “detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past.”
“I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate,” she said.
Ms Brooks acknowledged that the past two weeks “have been tough” for her and said she wants to devote her time to clearing her name. “I now need to concentrate on correcting the distortions and rebutting the allegations about my record as a journalist, an editor and executive. 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.”
She praised Rupert Murdoch’s “wisdom, kindness and incisive advice” said James Murdoch had shown her “great loyalty and friendship”.
Ms Brooks was praised as “one of the outstanding editors of her generation” by James Murdoch in a statement to announce that the company’s top priority is to address the issues faced by News International. “We support her as she takes this step to clear her name,” he said.
Ms Brooks’s decision to resign was welcomed by British politicians across party lines. “It is right that Rebekah Brooks has finally taken responsibility for the terrible events that happened on her watch, like the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone,” Labour leader Ed Miliband said.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who has been calling for Ms Brooks’s resignation, welcomed her decision to resign. “He thinks it is the right decision,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Ms Brooks’ resignation came just hours after Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a close friend of Rupert Murdoch and a major shareholder in News Corp, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Thursday night that she must quit. The billionaire prince, who is a nephew of the Saudi Arabian King, owns seven per cent voting shares in News Corp. “For sure she has to go, you bet she has to go,” he said.
News International, which had a major setback as advertisers abandoned its now closed title News of The World in droves, has decided to inform them of their next steps.
“We are also sending letters to our commercial partners with an update on the actions we are taking... The company has made mistakes. It is not only receiving appropriate scrutiny, but is also responding to unfair attacks by setting the record straight,” James Murdoch said.