Rebekah Brooks to be rehired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp after hacking saga

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Rebekah Brooks, a close aide of the media mogul, was acquitted last year by a London court of being part of an illegal conspiracy at the 'News of the World'. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:00pm, 2 Mar 2015Updated: 2:43pm, 2 Mar 2015

The former editor of the now-defunct tabloid News of the World, Rebekah Brooks, is getting rehired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp less nearly a year after being embroiled in a phone hacking scandal.

Brooks, a close aide of the media mogul, was acquitted last summer by a London court of being part of an illegal conspiracy at the News of the World to hack into phones and make illegal payments.

Brooks’s return to Murdoch’s side follows eight months out of the public eye following her acquittal last June. Despite getting cleared of charges, it was widely expected that it was near impossible for her to return to work at Murdoch’s British publishing empire, where she had been chief executive.

However, she looks set for a comeback. This time round, Brooks will run News Corp’s social media news agency Storyful, according to the Financial Times.

Brooks will initially be based in Britain and will spend time at Storyful’s Dublin headquarters, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

News Corp acquired Storyful last year for US$25 million. Founded in 2008, Storyful verifies and manages the rights holders of news and videos on social media platforms such as Twitter in real time.