On her fifth day of testimony today in a London courtroom, disgraced former editor Rebekah Brooks said that the payments made to public officials to get information for stories at the News Corp UK tabloids had her consent. Brooks reasoned that the payments were necessary as there had been an overwhelming public interest, she told the court.
"My view at the time was that there had to be an overwhelming public interest to justify payment in those very narrow circumstances to a public official being paid for information directly in line with their job. If there wasn't a public interest defense then it was not done because it was considered to be illegal," Brooks stated.
Bloomberg said Brooks is one of the seven people who are standing trial over bribery and fraud-related charges at the UK newspapers of the New York-based company. All seven, including Brooks, denied the charges that were lauded against them. The news agency said that News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch had shut down the News of the World tabloid in 2011 as revelations about phone hacking the mobile of a missing teenager by its own journalists had emerged.
Brooks also admitted her lack of oversight in several controversial stories while she was working at the Sun, which is one of the tabloids of News Corp.
Ahead of the trial, UK prosecutors have said that Brooks gave her authorization on about £40,000 or $66,500 worth of payments to a public official. Bloomberg said the definition of a public official in the UK is any employee of the government, including workers employed in the armed forces, civil servants, police and prison service. Brooks claimed however that she had no knowledge of who the tabloid's source was or if the source was an employee of the ministry or the defense agencies.
Last week, Brooks was acquitted of wrongdoing surrounding the payment for a compromising photo of Prince William. Presiding Judge John Saunders said that there was considerable uncertainty about the source of the photo.
