(ROUGH CUT ONLY- (no reporter narration)<br/> <br />Former newspaper executive Rebekah Brooks, the woman at the heart of a scandal shaking Rupert Murdoch's media empire and the British government, appears in court on at the opening of her prosecution on charges of hiding evidence from police.<br/> <br />Brooks, who is close to Murdoch and was friends with successive British prime ministers, resigned as chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper group in July 2011 over revelations of phone-hacking by reporters at one of her papers.<br/> <br />The phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World Sunday tabloid, which Murdoch abruptly shut down last July to try and limit the damage, set off a chain of events that have dominated the British news agenda for a year and are still playing out.<br/> <br />More than 50 journalists and public officials have been arrested on suspicion of hacking or corrupt relationships, and a public inquiry has exposed ties too close for comfort between Murdoch's inner circle and the men at the top of government.
