Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has confirmed that it is in talks with Rebekah Brooks, the former Sun and News of the World editor cleared of phone-hacking charges last year, about starting a new digital business.
However, that senior role is unlikely to involve running part of the Sun newspaper despite reports sparked by a recent visit to News Corp’s UK headquarters close to London Bridge.
In a statement, a spokesperson for News Corp said: “Discussions with Rebekah Brooks are ongoing, and focused on a potential new digital business for News Corp, but it’s premature to speculate about the details of a position that does not yet exist.”
Her new role, which she has been negotiating with the News Corp owner since being cleared, is also unlikely to involve running Storyful, the Dublin-based social media news agency, according to sources.
Brooks was reported by Exaro News as being “lined up to take charge of the Sun’s digital operation and video offering” on Wednesday. But an executive at the paper said: “She will not be running part of the Sun, nor sitting on the Sun’s floor. That is utter bollocks. People are putting 2+2 together and making 763.”
However, her new role is expected to include responsibility for digital expansion with a focus on video and multimedia. Content provided by all the News Corp titles, including the Sun, could conceivably be part of that role.
Although Brooks is understood to be keen to move to New York with her young child, her husband Charlie Brooks is said to be less so. She is understood to have found a temporary berth in News Corp’s 17-floor headquarters at London Bridge.
Brooks stood down from her role as chief executive of News Corp’s UK division four years ago after a 20-year career at the group that included editing the Sun and the News of the World. She left the group after the News of the World was closed down following revelations that included hacking into the phone of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Reports of Brooks return to the News Corp fold first emerged in the Guardian last October. Last month, she was said to be “close” to finalising a role with unconfirmed reports that she would be heading Storyful, a Dublin-based social media news agency started by the former RTE current affairs present Mark Little. Brooks has been seen in News Corp offices on both sides of the Atlantic and in senior industry meetings held in Las Vegas among other places.
Reports of Brooks’s possible return to the Sun came after she met Victoria Newton, editor of the Sun on Sunday, earlier this month. There has been speculation that the newspaper’s content including the mostly online-only Page 3 could be exploited more online.
Rupert Murdoch is understood to be concerned about falling circulation at the title – which is now well below 2m – as well as its continued support for the Conservative party. An announcement about the new role could be politically sensitive this close to an election.
Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor who was given a job by David Cameron, was jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to hack phones.