The buck has stopped – or on this case, the pound — as the first criminal charges have been filed in the phone hacking inquiry that has been rocking UK (and global) media circles. Rebekah Brooks, former CEO of Rupert Murdoch's News International, will face criminal charges over the phone hacking scandal.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charges that Brooks, who was arrested in March and revealed last week she's so close to British Prime Minister David Cameron that they text each other, "conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to pervert the course of justice," by alleged attempts to conceal or remove evidence relevant to police investigation into the hacking and corruption scandals known as Operation Weeting launched in January 2011 at the News of the World and the Sun tabloids.

It’s a stunning reversal for one of Britain’s most powerful woman, a Murdoch confidante, and additional oversight of all his newspapers in the U.S. as well — not to mention the latest black eye for News Corp.'s corporate reputation.Continue reading...

As he battles to restore his media conglomerate's reputation as the British hacking inquiry continues, News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch found himself in more hot water this week.

On the second day of the UK media ethics inquiry chaired by Lord Justice Brian Leveson about the Australian-born mogul’s intertwined political influence and business interests, Murdoch stepped into it by describing British Prime Minister David Cameron's late son Ivan as "retarded." In fact, Ivan Cameron was afflicted with cerebral palsy and epilepsy and died at age six in 2009.Continue reading...

Six journalists, including Rebekah Brooks, the flame-haired former chief of News International, and her husband Charlie have been arrested in the ongoing investigation of the phone-hacking scandal that rocked the UK when Brooks was arrested for the first time last July.

The new arrests in that same investigation opened those wounds anew, even while Brooks and her husband have reportedly been released on bail.Continue reading...

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James Murdoch insists he wasn't told about hacking evidence at News Corp.'s News of the World.Continue reading...

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Former British tabloid editor (turned Larry King replacement) Piers Morgan is being reeled in to the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal, and he's done defending himself.

Before his US arrival on CNN and judging spot on NBC’s summer hit, America’s Got Talent, Morgan was the editor of the now defunct British tabloid The News of the World in the mid-1990s and subsequently, its "red-top" rival, The Daily Mirror. His tenure on Fleet Street is now putting him on the hot seat he usually reserves for his TV guests.Continue reading...

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CNN host Piers Morgan accused of hacking on his watch while editor of News of the World.

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British PM David Cameron tells Parliament that he now regrets hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as News Corp. faces US calls for Dow Jones inquiry over phone hacking and London police say their investigation could take years. Wendi Murdoch fever also explodes on the web as her husband's media empire attempts to restore reputation.

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