M&S | News Corp Rebekah Brooks Out | Real Christian Feminists Say 'Horsefeathers' Re Bachmann & Palin
/The Overdue Resignation
Embattled News Intl CEO Rebekah Brooks Resigns Forbes
Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PARupert Murdoch’s chief executive Rebekah Brooks resigned today, “the biggest casualty so far in the phone hacking scandal roiling Britain.
Previously Murdoch had defended Brooks, refusing to accept her resignation, as British politicians demanded that she step down. But yesterday the second largest shareholder in News Corporation Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Alsaud shared his thoughts on the situation with BBC.
“For sure she has to go, you bet she has to go,” declared the most successful businessperson in Saudi Arabia, who is a champion of women’s rights.
“Ethics to me are very important. I will not deal with a lady or a man that has any sliver of doubt on her or his integrity.”
Elizabeth Murdoch Photo AFP/GETTYThe Daily Telegraph reports that daughter Elizabeth Murdoch, formerly a close friend of Brooks, is furious. Miss Murdoch, who is set to be given a seat on the board of her father’s News Corp empire, told friends that Mrs Brooks had “f——- the company”.
Her remarks represent the first breach in the show of solidarity around Mrs Brooks by the Murdoch family.
Brooks was editor of the News of the World tabloid between 2000 and 2003, when the paper’s employees allegedly hacked into the phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 as police searched for her, potentially in interfering with the investigation.
Tom Mockridge, chief executive of News Corp.’s Sky Italia television unit, will take over CEO duties immediately.
The momentum against News Corp is mounting at a furious pace. The company announced today it will run ads of apology in all Britain’s national papers this weekend. James Murdoch, who heads the international operations of the New York-based News Corp. and is his father’s heir apparent, announced that the company has set up an independent Management & Standards Committee to establish and enforce operational codes of conduct.
“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,” said opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. “No one in this country should exercise power without responsibility.”
Related reading
NEW Murdoch Defiant as FBI Acts WSJ.com
NEW Executive Who Ran Murdoch Unit at Time of Hacking Quits NYTimes
Les Hinton, the chairman of Dow Jones, joined in resigning from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
Phone hacking scandal casts light on Murdoch’s political role around the globe The Washington Post
Theocratic Patriarchy Moves to Redefine Feminism
Is Michele Bachmann a Christian Feminist? Huffington Post
Image via Mount Saint Agnes theological center for women Bachmann, the GOP congresswoman from Minnesota and Tea Party darling who wants to be our next president, does not remind me of any Christian feminist I have ever known. Neither, for that matter, does former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
In recent weeks, various commentators have suggested that both Bachmann and Palin represent a new breed of evangelical — meaning “Christian” — feminism.
Horse feathers.
