The News Corp. family’s ten most wanted

(Click to enlarge.)

NAME: Rupert Murdoch
ALIAS: "Rupe"
SUMMARY: Australian-born head of the News Corporation media empire. Leader of the Murdoch family. Mogul who inspires reverence and vilification in seemingly equal parts. Walking caricature. In the words of one character witness,"Rupert Murdoch is what God meant when he created a media executive." Once thought to be scandal-proof--but not any more.

NAME: James Murdoch
ALIAS: "Heir Apparent"
SUMMARY: Head of News Corp.'s European operations, deputy chief operating officer for News Corp.; BSkyB chairman (for now). Once thought to be Rupert's heir apparent. Will appear alongside his father before the House of Commons Committee on Culture, Media and Sport on Tuesday to answer questions related to the phone-hacking case.

NAME: Rebekah Brooks
ALIAS: "Bekks"
SUMMARY: Former News of the World editor and--until last week--News International's chief executive and one of Rupert Murdoch's favorite lieutenants. Arrested and questioned by Metropolitan police for more than 12 hours Sunday. Scheduled to appear with Murdochs in front of select parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

NAME: Andy Coulson
ALIAS: None
SUMMARY: News of the World editor after Brooks; U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications. Arrested on July 8 as phone hacking inquiries intensified.

NAME: Les Hinton
ALIAS: "L.H."
SUMMARY: Former Dow Jones publisher; ex-News International chief. Hinton resigned from Dow Jones on Friday, a few hours after Brooks tendered her resignation. "That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant," Hinton wrote in a memo to his staff, "and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp., and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World."

NAME: Neil Wallis
ALIAS: N/A
SUMMARY: Former News of the World executive editor; secret police "consultant." Wallis was arrested last week in the widening phone hacking investigation. Police admitted Wallis was on the News of the World payroll--after his official tenure at the paper had run its course--as a part-time "adviser."

NAME: David Cameron
ALIAS: "P.M."
SUMMARY: Britain's increasingly embattled Prime Minister. Hired former News of the World editor Coulson as his communications director last year, only to have Coulson resign amid more hacking allegations. Gave fiery speech to parliament last week. Close friend of Brooks. On Monday, cut short a trip to Africa, amid the mounting political fallout, and ordered an emergency session of Parliament upon his return.

NAME: Scotland Yard
ALIASES: Metropolitan Police Services; the "Met"
SUMMARY: Formed in 1829. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson resigned on Sunday;  a second top Scotland Yard official, John Yates, resigned Monday. Their departures come a week after Wallis' arrest, which produced the revelation that the former NOTW executive editor was a paid consultant.

NAME: News of the World
ALIASES: "NOTW"; "Red Top"
SCARS & MARKS: Plenty
SUMMARY: 168-year-old tabloid at the center of the phone hacking scandal. Read by 7.5 million. Edited by Brooks and then Coulson at the time of the alleged hacking. Shuttered by Murdoch on July 13--but with many key operatives still at large.

NAME: Piers Morgan
ALIASES: "P.M."
SUMMARY: Host of CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight"; "American's Got Talent" judge; "Celebrity Apprentice" winner; former News of the World and Daily Mirror editor. Members of Parliament now say Morgan should face questions about hacking and other celebrity journalism tactics he allegedly condoned as editor of the Mirror.