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News
of the World
News
News
Corp Kills News Of The World After Phone Hacking Scandal,
by Greg Tingle - 9th July 2011
News
Corporation has taken the most unusual step of killing
its UK Sunday tabloid News of the World after the
paper was boycotted by advertisers even including
ones from the gambling and adult sector, following
revelations that its phone-hacking victims included
the families of UK soldiers and a murdered schoolgirl.
The
decision to close the 168-year-old paper is seen as
a push to put the scandal behind it and to end protestations
about the legality of its conduct.
The
closure comes as News Corp seeks to buy the 61% of
British broadcaster BskyB that it does not already
own and is seen as a way for News Corp to try gain
British Government support for that deal.
Announcing
the shock decision was James Murdoch – who chairs
the British newspaper arm of News Corp – said
that “wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad”.
Murdoch
said News of the World has been “sullied by behaviour
that was wrong”.
“Indeed,
if recent allegations are true it was inhuman and
has no place in our company,” he said. “The
News of the World is in the business of holding others
to account. But it failed when it came to itself.”
Murdoch
said this Sunday will see publication of the last
edition of the News of the World, with revenue going
to “good causes”.
The
News of the World is the highest-selling newspaper
in Britain, with 2.6 million copies sold each Sunday.
Media
analyst Mark McDonnell of BBY advised the scandal
will have wider repercussions for the News Corp brand
and could be a game-changer for its £12 billion
($17.8 billion) BSkyB bid.
“Whether
News Corp can successfully pursue UK ambitions is
in doubt,” McDonnell said, citing questions about
whether News Corp’s promises to get the BskyB
deal across the line needed a fresh look. The Government
has deferred its decision on the takeover.
“The
idea that a company can treat this exercise like a
parochial brand damage issue I think is going to be
sorely tested,” McDonnell said.
“There’s
quite clear intent for this matter to be prosecuted
both through the official legal challenges as well
as politically and through competitor media outlets.”
Police
said roughly 4000 people may have been targeted by
News of the World illegal telephone taps.
It's
expected that The Sun daily newspaper would soon publish
seven days a week.
Insiders
say numerous Australians have also been tapped, and
that its possible Australia's Daily Telegraph and
even The Sydney Morning Herald may have some bad eggs
who have tapped a number of well known Australians
including Elle "The Body".
Profile
The
News of the World is a British tabloid newspaper published
every Sunday. It is published by News Group Newspapers
of News International, itself a subsidiary of Rupert
Murdoch's News Corporation, and can be considered
the Sunday equivalent of The Sun. The newspaper tends
to concentrate on celebrity-based scoops and populist
news. Its fondness for sex scandals gained it the
nicknames "Sex 'n' Scandal weekly", "News
of the Screws" and "Screws of the World".
With sales of an average of 3,445,459 copies per week
in October 2006, it is the biggest selling English-language
newspaper in the world. Former editor Andy Coulson
resigned on the 26 January 2007 over the royal phone
tapping scandal. He has been replaced with Colin Myler,
the former editor of the Sunday Mirror who has latterly
been working at the New York Post. Previous editors
of the paper include Piers Morgan and Rebekah Wade
who replaced Phil Hall in 2000. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
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