Daily Beast: Murdoch Scandal’s Appalling Turn

[Hissyspit]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/05/britain-s-phone-hacking-scandal.html

Murdoch Scandal’s Appalling Turn

Did an investigator working for News of the World hack into the phone of a teenage murder victim? If so, it would have happened under the watch of a Rupert Murdoch favorite.

Jul 5, 2011 4:20 PM EDT



Media mogul Rupert Murdoch can be a loyal boss to favored lieutenants. And few have been more favored than Rebekah Brooks. The 43-year-old has risen at dazzling speed through the Murdoch editorial hierarchy, editing two of his national papers before her appointment in 2009 as chief executive of his U.K. operation, News International. Famous for her charm (as well as a head of flaming-red hair), Brooks is said to be a close Murdoch family friend as well as a trusted subordinate.

But loyalty must have its limits. Over the past five years, News International has battled to contain a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, its muckraking Sunday tabloid, and Murdoch enemies have yearned to find clear evidence implicating Brooks. Now they smell blood. According to allegations in today’s press, a private investigator working for the paper tapped into the cellphone of 13-year-old murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler after her abduction back in 2002. The paper’s editor at the time: Rebekah Brooks.

To date, Murdoch has resolutely stood by his favorite, but a shocked public will want to see heads roll. Memories of the Dowler case are still fresh. Only last month was her killer finally convicted after a trial covered in harrowing detail by the media. What’s now alleged is that Dowler’s voicemail was illegally accessed by the News of the World in the days after she vanished. Worse, some messages were allegedly deleted by hackers to make space for more, encouraging her family in the false hope that Dowler might still be alive and checking her mail.

Murdoch staffers found guilty of involvement can expect no sympathy. So far, the list of hacking victims has been dominated by celebrities, including top footballers and actors, among them Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller. Gossip-hungry readers might deplore the invasion of privacy but still feel that a little intrusion is the price of wealth and fame—wrong but not wicked. By contrast, the Dowlers are ordinary members of the public, grieving the loss of their child. In the words of Alastair Campbell, director of communications at Downing Street under Tony Blair: “So far the newspapers have managed to make this as much about celebrities as the actual crime—I think this takes it to a completely different level.”

MORE