Key UK Murdoch executives charged over phone hacking conspiracy

We still have waaay too many friends in high places

The News of the World phone hacking scandal continues to rock News Corporation and undeniably, its CEO and founder Rupert Murdoch. Two key Murdoch executives along with six others were charged today with conspiracy to hack phones.

Last summer, the Guardian revealed that reporters working for the popular British tabloid the News of the World had paid private a detective to hack into the voicemail of Milly Dowler, a 13 year-old girl who had been abducted and murdered. A public demand to discover the extent of the news organizations phone hacking activities soon followed, and the 168 year-old publication folded under the pressure of the escalating scandal. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson (pictured) resigned from their positions, she the head editor of the News of the World and he the Communications Director for Prime Minister David Cameron.

Brooks, Coulson, five other former employees and private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, face up to two years in prison if convicted. The pair are noted for their deep political connections with high ranking members of the the UK government, including sitting Prime Minister, David Cameron. Brooks was also a confidant of Murdoch and friends with a succession of Prime Ministers.
The Guardian:

Nailing Murdoch: media mogul's influence in UK gov leading up to Iraq War revealed

Getty Images via  The Telegraph

With no signs of the Conservative FOX behemoth slowing in the midst of the election cycle, here in the UK, the man behind the curtain appears to be increasingly vulnerable to scrutiny (and maybe even the law).

Thanks to Prime Minister Tony Blair's Communications Director, Alastair Campbell, detailed diary entries which describe conversations between Rupert Murdoch and Blair have become public. The diary reveals that Murdoch did indeed put pressure on the Blair Administration to speed up British involvement in the Iraq war. Murdoch had previously testified before the Leveson Inquiry that he had never used his position to influence the actions of Prime Ministers. However, the new evidence, detailed extensively by the Guardian, shows that Murdoch made a series of calls to Tony Blair in the weeks leading up to the Iraq war.