The closure of the News of the World was brought about by the explosion of the phone-hacking scandal when it was revealed that it had hacked the mobile phone of MillyDowler

Authors Avatar

It’s the Reminder that Counts

        Printed as headline in front pages of papers and websites around the world, Britain’s best-selling Sunday tabloid the News of the World has come to its demise. The July 10 issue became the final edition of the 168-year-old tabloid as the journalists bid farewell to readers and apologized for letting them down because of the recent allegations thrown to the iconic news brand. News Corporation, which owns the paper, announced its closure after a series of controversial issues linked to NOTW.

        The closure of the News of the World was brought about by the explosion of the phone-hacking scandal when it was revealed that it had hacked the mobile phone of MillyDowler after her abduction and murder in 2002 and NOTW operatives had deleted messages which made the girl’s parents hope that their daughter was still alive. Parents of young murder victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman became targets of hacking as well. Other potential phone-hacking cases linked to the tabloid were victims of London’s bombings, families of soldiers killed in war and even Michael Mansfield QC, inquest lawyer of Princess Diana. Mobile phones of celebrities and politicians had been hacked also went way back. Example of which was the case of actress Sienna Miller where the paper paid £100,000 ($160,000) after admitting liability for the damages brought to the actress. Investigators of the scandal have said that about 4,000 people were potential victims of phone-hacking done by NOTW’s “private eyes”.

Join now!

        

        All of these revelations, including other controversial issues linked to the tabloid, show the unethical practices done by NOTW journalists who, according to reports, had bribed police for information and had hired private investigators or “private eyes” who were accused of hacking mobile phones of thousands of people of interest. Resorting to such ways of getting information just to publish few more stories is evidence that people working on NOTW didn’t care much about ethics. As a result, the iconic news brand was subjected to heavy scrutiny around the world. This must be the point of these all, that ...

This is a preview of the whole essay