Gary Lee Walters

Author, Lecturer, Tutor in Law and part-time Blogging hero

As a computer enthusiast I initially 'brushed off' the term hacking being thrown around by the media. Hacking in my social circles is considered an act whereby a computer user uses their computer to gain unauthorised access to another machine. The current affair concerns 'hacks' (Journalists) ringing a phone and, when it is not answered, inserting the default P.I.N. (personal Identification Number). Not rocket science and not hacking as I know it.

Democracy Now!

Independent, weekday news hour, anchored by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González

Ian Katz, deputy editor of The Guardian, and Sarah Smith, correspondent for Channel 4 News U.K., discuss the growing phone-hacking scandal that has threatened Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

Dan Ehrlich

Journalist and Broadcaster

The problem here is the Left doesn't want people to have what Murdoch offers them. In something akin to the tradition of racist stereotypes, they develop a malevolent and ruthless capitalist bent on exploiting his workers and dumbing down the general population...the devil incarnate.

Andrew Wigley

Charity Worker & Postgraduate Student

Corporate culture is established through leadership. If lessons are to be learnt from NewsCorp's misconduct, then perhaps attention is focused first on the board room and not the news room.

Julian Kossoff

Award-winning editor and journalist

Somewhere in a not so far off galaxy called Murdoch the final battle has commenced. The Death Star - emblazoned with the huge but now flickering News Corp insignia - is under sustained attack from the rebel alliance. Huge plumes of flames erupt (bonfires of the vanities, surely) from the crippled leviathan as missiles of truth pierce its thick hull built from a composite of money, power, corruption and arrogance, once thought indestructible.

Dominic Raab

MP for Esher and Walton, and a former international lawyer at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

There are no quick-fixes or easy answers to the unfolding scandal. But, there are plenty of elephant traps - and the threat to media freedom may be the greatest of all.

Adam Lee-Potter

Journalist, interviewer and media lecturer

A blighted relationship can survive only if respect remains. And the fact is that we no longer respect Rupert Murdoch. He may continue to fiddle but his empire is burning.

Keith Vaz

Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee of the British Parliament and the Member of Parliament for Leicester East

When I ask someone to appear before the Home Affairs Committee there is always a degree of shadow boxing about their availability, times have to be checked and appointments moved. Not so with Sir Paul.

Tim Brain

Former Chief Constable of Gloucestershire

Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation as Metropolitan Police Commissioner ultimately became inevitable. Nevertheless, it is a calamitous event for both the Met's internal morale and public confidence.

Christina Patterson

Writer and columnist, 'The Independent'

It isn't very nice to laugh at someone else's misfortune, but sometimes it's an awful lot of fun.

Emma Bannister

Beauty Director style-passport

One of the most striking things about the Rebekah Brooks saga over the past few days is how she opted to appear in front of world press and TV crews with a soap scrubbed face

Sean Dilley

Parliamentary Lobby Journalist for UTV's talkSPORT

Brooks' arrest affords her strong protection in law. CMS Committee Clerks are now studying Parliament's Sub Judice Rules and advising the Committee - similarly, it seems certain that Lawyers for Mrs. Brooks will be consulting the law-books also and advising her on which questions, if any, she would have to answer if she attends.

Dan Ehrlich

Journalist and Broadcaster

Now those chickens have come home to roost...there's a time of reckoning. Ms. Brooks never expected the seeds of her brand of journalism would breed several out of control.

Helen Drew

Television reporter and journalist

At the end of this saga, many journalists will be left standing, still with lovely jobs at glossy magazines, international news channels or at least, a regional political programme. But what sort of journalists will be left?

Collette Walsh

Writer, broadcaster & social commentator

While some were terribly in awe of Brooks and Coulson, a lot of us recognised even then that they had sold their souls to Murdoch. Now, they are paying the price.

Mark Fletcher-Brown

Commsmeister

Most people thought that Rebekah Brooks would have gone a lot earlier than she did. But knowing when to leave is not easy.