The background
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson will face charges relating to phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced, together with six other people. The two former News of the World editors are to be charged in connection with the hacking of the voicemail messages of murdered teenager Amanda ‘Milly’ Dowler.
According to The Guardian, “the CPS will bring 19 charges in all, and say that 600 people were victims, ranging from victims of crime to politicians and celebrities.”
The allegations surrounding the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone led to the closure of The News of the World in July 2011 and the Leveson inquiry into press ethics, and sent shockwaves through parent company News International.
In addition to Brooks and Coulson, the others facing charges are: “former NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, former assistant editor James Weatherup and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire,” said the BBC.
The charges
Eight people are to be prosecuted. According to the CPS statement, “all, with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire, will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.”
Former News International chief executive Brooks faces additional phone hacking charges relating to Milly Dowler and to ex-Fire Brigades Union boss Andrew Gilchrist. Coulson, former communications chief to PM David Cameron, will also face charges linked to Milly Dowler, as well as former Labour home secretaries David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, and Calum Best.
Read about the phone hacking scandal that brought down the News of the World at The Periscope Post.
Brooks: I am not guilty
“I am not guilty of these charges,” said Brooks said in a statement, reported Reuters.”The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime.”
Day of reckoning for News International – and Cameron?
“The day of reckoning over phone hacking is almost upon us and almost the entire former hierarchy of News International will be standing in the dock,” wrote Ian Burrell in The Independent. “No wonder Rupert Murdoch quietly dropped his directorship of the company at the weekend.” And it’s not just the media giant who will have to deal with the fall-out: “How damaging it will be for David Cameron to watch the trial of a man he appointed as his Director of Communications.”
Prime Minister under pressure
The announcement that Coulson is to be charged raises several political problems for Cameron, wrote Matthew Ashton at Politics.co.uk. Apart from the damage to his reputation, the PM now has no chance of healing the rift with News International. “It’s no secret that the Times and the Sun have been a lot more negative in the last few months since Cameron publicly turned on Murdoch and set up the Leveson inquiry,” wrote Ashton. Losing these papers’ support during the next general election could be a serious blow to the Conservatives.