Cutting Their Losses
The BBC reports that the News of the World to close amid hacking scandal
This Sunday’s issue of the News of the World will be the last edition of the paper, News International chairman James Murdoch has said.
In the past few days, claims have been made that the paper authorised hacking into the mobile phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the families of 7/7 bombing victims.
Mr Murdoch said proceeds from the last edition would go to good causes.
Downing Street said it had no role or involvement in the decision.
The News of the World, which has been in circulation for 168 years, is the UK’s biggest selling newspaper and is famed for its celebrity scoops.
…Labour MP Tom Watson told Sky News it was “a victory for decent people up and down the land, and I say good riddance to the News of the World”.
But Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said: “All they’re going to do is rebrand it” and former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, who alleged his phone was hacked, thought the decision was simply a gimmick.
As the ‘brand’ is now a liability instead of an asset, News Corp has dumped it and will create a new brand. The people at the top who paid for these actions are still in power.
The BBC has a list of Key People that they know about, but there is a name missing that may be more familiar to American viewers, Piers Morgan, a talking head on CNN these days. He was an editor of News of the World in the late 1990s, and if you listen to him talk about ‘celebrities’ it is easy to imagine him as a British version of JJ Hunsecker, doing whatever is necessary, legal or not, to get dirt on his targets.
2 comments
Murdoch did it more to help ensure the Newscorp takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB (profit over £1bn) than to expiate his guilt for the vile activities of the paper (profit £10-20m or thereabouts).
What baffles me most is the retention of Rebekah Brooks News Intl chief exec (editor of NOTW 2000-2003 and thus in charge when the Milly Dowler hacking took place as well as that of the families of the two little girls murdered in Soham). Perhaps they are scared of letting her go on the basis that she knows where a lot of even worse bodies are buried and it is better to have her in the tent pissing out that outside the tent pissing in.
Rebekah Brooks is, was, and always will be the problem. If they really wanted to put the problem behind them, she would have been gone as soon as the original problem was discovered. Whether or not she knew is irrelevant. She either knew and is scum, or didn’t know and is incompetent – either way you dump her, you don’t promote her.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it is discovered that some individuals named Murdoch were hacked in this program. There has to be a reason Rupert is protecting her.