July 7th 2011: the day the plug was pulled on the News of the World (NotW). Irrespective of your views on the newspaper and the style of journalism on which it thrived, it was a pretty dismal end for the 168-year old publication. It was a national institution, but for it to end so spectacularly was indicative of the crimes with which it was charged.
It had long been established that many stories covered by NotW were sourced from phone-hacking – but it was just celebrities, so that was fine, right? That’s a matter of opinion. But when it emerged that the mobile phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had likely been accessed by an investigator acting on behalf of the newspaper, there was really no way back.
Some argued that ending The News of the World was like a lamb to the slaughter for the Murdoch empire, an attempt to salvage its bid to take over lucrative British TV, phone and ISP company BSkyB. But a week after NotW was dead, so was the BSkyB deal. Others argued that it was to save the Murdochs’ beloved Rebekah Brooks, the former NotW Editor, News International Chief Executive and a close friends of News Corporation’s main men.
When Rupert and James Murdoch faced MPs’ questions on July 19th, they both jumped to Brooks’ defence, with Rupert saying: “I believed her, I trusted her and I still trust in her”. When asked whether the News of the World was closed to save Brooks, Rupert answered: “The two decisions are totally unrelated. The paper was closed because it had violated the trust of our readers”...
http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/07/31/making-sense-of-the-murdoch-mess-a-whos-who-of-phone-hacking-and-how-it-will-end
Publish Post
No comments:
Post a Comment