Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor who was at the center of the phone-hacking scandal that enveloped News Corp. in 2011, is in negotiations to return to the company in a senior executive post.
There were conflicting reports out of the U.K. about the specifics of her new role. A source close to the situation said that details were still being worked out as discussions are ongoing.
The Financial Times reported that Brooks is eyed to oversee Storyful, the digital media company that News Corp. bought last year.
A rep for News Corp. declined comment.
Brooks was acquitted by a British court last year of conspiracy and corruption charges related to the phone-hacking scandal that erupted during her tenure as News of the World editor and as chief executive of News Corp.'s News International division. News Corp. chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch has continued to publicly support Brooks despite the toll that the scandal took on his company. She rose through the ranks after a starting at News of the World as a secretary in 1989.
Brooks resigned in 2011 as the scandal over allegations that News of the World reporters hacked into the cell phone voice mail of celebrities and others in pursuit of stories, among other allegations of bribery and political corruption. News of the World was shuttered amid the furor in Britain sparked by evidence that the paper's reporters had hacked the voice mail of 13-year-old murder victim Millie Dowler, impeding the police investigation.
If the deal comes together, Brooks would return to a different company than the one she left. In 2012, Murdoch split off his entertainment and media assets into a separate publicly held entity, 21st Century Fox, while newspapers and other publishing assets remained under the News Corp. banner.
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