Rebekah Brooks Resigns from News International

News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks has resigned from her post after sustained pressure from the media, government and public for the last fortnight. Her departure comes less than a week after the News of the World newspaper, of which Brooks was editor for three years, was closed down.

It was revealed two weeks ago that the British paper, which is owned by News International, had hacked thousands of people's mobile phones whilst Brooks was editor, including murdered teenager Milly Dowler. Ever since, Rupert Murdoch owned News International has come in for intense criticism from all sides and Brooks' resignation had seemed inevitable. Still, it is a big blow for the news company, with Ms Brooks Murdoch's most senior newspaper executive in Britain.

Phone Hacking Scandal

The phone hacking scandal had been had rumbled on for years, before it exploded last week when the British newspaper The Guardian alleged that in 2002 The News of the World had targeted the phone messages of Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old girl. More details followed as it was revealed that the paper had hired private investigators to hack the phones of thousands of people, including celebrities, members of the royal family and even families of veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.  

The Fallout

The scandal led to the closure on last week of the 168-year-old News of the World, which at the time was Britain's most popular Sunday paper. This was closely followed by Murdoch pulling out of his takeover bid for pay-TV giant BSkyB, which would have been the biggest media takeover in British history. The results for News Corporation (the international parent company of News International) have been devastating. Shares have plummeted in the last week, and Murdoch's reputation has been irreparably damaged in the UK, to the extent where he is reportedly thinking of selling his remaining British newspapers- The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

All this culminated in Rebekah Brooks' resignation today, which seemed the only possible option she had. However, with fresh revelations coming to light every day, one thing we can be certain of, is that she won't be able to quietly slip away in to the background.    

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