Rebekah Brooks

Rebekah Brooks (born Rebekah Mary Wade , born May 27, 1968 in Cheshire , England ) is a British journalist .

Youth and education

Rebekah Wade grew up as an only child in Daresbury in North West England. She attended Appleton Hall County Grammar School and decided at the age of 14 to take up the profession of journalist. After the A-Level, she moved to Paris , where she worked for the architecture magazine L'architecture d'aujourd'hui and is said to have studied at the Sorbonne . Back in England, her father's boyfriend gave her a secretary position at Eddy Shah's newly published magazine The Post , which was later discontinued. Wade apprenticed to reporters and worked as an investigative journalist before starting as a secretary and later a journalist for the News of the World tabloid .

Journalistic career

Wade caught the attention of editor-in-chief Piers Morgan and became deputy editor-in-chief of the tabloid The Sun at age 29 . In 2000, Rupert Murdoch promoted her to Editor-in-Chief of News of the World . She held this position until 2003. From September 2009 to July 2011, the now married Rebekah Brooks managed the newspaper publisher News International , which belongs to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation . Rebekah Brooks was the youngest British editor-in-chief of all time and the Sun 's first woman in that position.

News international scandal

In 2011, in the wake of the scandal surrounding the tapping of private phone calls by News of the World editors, she came under the fire of public criticism during her time as editor-in-chief at the newspaper. The newspaper was shut down in July 2011 as a result of the wiretapping scandal. On July 15, 2011, she resigned as Managing Director of News International and received, according to unconfirmed media reports, as it became known in October 2012, a severance payment of more than seven million pounds (around 8.7 million euros). This includes cash, pension payments, legal bills allowances, and a chauffeured car.

On July 17, 2011, she was arrested by British police and questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to eavesdrop on conversations and bribery. She was released on bail a day later . At a parliamentary committee hearing on July 19, 2011, publicly televised live, Brooks, Rupert and James Murdoch apologized for the wiretapping and corruption affair. However, all three refused to accept responsibility and denied having known about the criminal proceedings.

On March 13, 2012, Rebekah Brooks was arrested again, along with her husband and four other people, on suspicion of obstruction of justice. The next day she was released on bail, along with all those arrested with her.

On October 28, 2013, the trial of Rebekah Brooks and seven other defendants began. She was acquitted on June 24, 2014.

At the end of August 2015, it was announced in the press that Rebekah Brooks would again take on a leading position as responsible for Great Britain at Rupert Murdochs News Corp. The news was immediately linked to criticism of Rupert Murdoch. He was accused of not having drawn any lessons from the scandal. On the other hand, it was said that this was to be understood as a reward for Brooks loyalty to the Murdoch group of companies. On September 2, Brooks' appeal was upheld by News Corp; she takes over from Mike Darcey , who held her for three years. Thus, it assumes responsibility for the Times , Sunday Times and the Sun . In her new position, Brooks will drive the development and adoption of digital news formats.

Shortly before Brooks' reappointment became known, it had become known that after the police investigation had been concluded, the prosecution was investigating the possibility of indicting News UK from the former News International as being responsible for the wiretapping scandal.

Private life

She was married to the actor Ross Kemp (known from the soap opera EastEnders ) from 2002 to 2009 . In late 2009, she married Charlie Brooks and took his last name.