NOTW phone hacking protests turn to Wikipedia

THE REDHEADED CEO of News International, Rebekah Brooks, had her Wikipedia page updated early Wednesday with a slur on her skills as a journalist, after becoming embroiled in the phone hacking scandal.

The Independent today claimed that Brooks had worked with one of the private investigators involved in the News of the World (NOTW) hacking scandal. The tally of potential victims continues to grow, including the families of those killed in the London 7/7 bombings, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who were murdered in Soham, and Milly Dowler, another young girl who was murdered.

Brooks is listed on Wikipedia as "a British journalist and newspaper editor. She is chief executive of News International, having previously served as the first female editor of The Sun."

However, as of Wednesday morning, her entry had been updated with, "Despite being editor in chief of News of the World, she apparently has no idea what her staff are doing most of the time."

By midday, the sentence had been been removed. It was in reference to Brooks having stated in a message to staff that she had no knowledge of the hacking while it was taking place at NOTW.

"I have to tell you that I am sickened that these events are alleged to have happened," Brooks wrote, according to The Independent.

"Not just because I was editor of the News of the World at the time, but if the accusations are true, the devastating effect on Milly Dowler's family is unforgivable."

If what Brooks claims is true, it seems she let her team of journalists run amok with little control over them as editor. It's hard to imagine that during her tenure as editor a situation never arose where Brooks should have queried the source of the material.

So Brooks is either an extremely naïve and unskilled editor, or she's being rather economical with the truth. No wonder she's risen so high on Rupert Murdoch's team. µ