Saturday, July 9, 2011

News of the World

News of the World hits newsstands for last time
LONDON — Britain's News of the World hit the newsstands for the last time on Sunday, ending its 168-year history of scoops and scandal with the headline "Thank You and Goodbye."
In a full-page editorial, Britain's top-selling weekly newspaper apologised to readers for the long-running scandal over phone hacking that caused its closure, saying: "Quite simply, we lost our way."
But the row is far from over, and as owner Rupert Murdoch headed to London to take personal charge of the crisis, it was reported that police would soon be questioning his top British executive, Rebekah Brooks.
After an emotional day preparing the final edition on Saturday, News of the World editor Colin Myler led staff out of its offices in Wapping, east London for the last time.
"I want to pay tribute to this wonderful team of people here, who, after a really difficult day, have produced in a brilliantly professional way a wonderful newspaper," Myler told reporters outside.
More than 200 staff now face an uncertain future, and while Myler's comments sparked cheers, some people were in tears.
He held up the final front page, a montage of some of the paper's best-known splashes and a message saying: "After 168 years, we finally say a sad but very proud farewell to our 7.5 million loyal readers."
"As I said to staff this morning, this is not where we wanted to be and it not where we deserved to be. But as a final tribute to 7.5 million readers this is for you, and for the staff, thank you," Myler said.
Inside, he charted the paper's finest moments under the banner "World's Greatest Newspaper -- 1843-2011", from investigations by the "Fake Sheikh" to a controversial campaign against paedophiles.
But the editorial also admitted that for a few years up to 2006, some of its employees had fallen "shamefully short" of the standards it sought to uphold.
"Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry," it said.
"There is no justification for this appalling wrong-doing. No justification for the pain caused to victims, nor for the deep stain it has left on a great history."
Despite public anger over the hacking, Britons were expected to the snap up the final copy of the paper as a souvenir.
The usual print run was doubled to five million copies, and sales of first editions late on Saturday night were brisk. "I sold 50 in the first five minutes," one vendor in central London told AFP.
Murdoch was due to arrive in Britain on Sunday, a source at his News Corp. said, to take charge of the crisis which has threatened to contaminate other parts of his media empire.
The British government is due to decide soon on News Corp.'s controversial bid to take full control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, but opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband will reportedly try to hold a vote in parliament this week to suspend the deal.
Murdoch may also need to step in to defend Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of his British newspaper division, News International.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that police wanted to question Brooks over what she knew about phone hacking and alleged illegal payments to police while she was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003.
She has always denied wrongdoing and Murdoch has strongly backed her.
Her successor as editor, Andy Coulson, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of involvement in phone hacking and illegal police payments.
His arrest put pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron, who employed Coulson after he quit the News of the World in 2007, following the jailing of one of the paper's journalists and a private investigative over hacking.
Coulson has always denied wrongdoing, but he was forced to resign as Cameron's director of communications in January this year because of ongoing revelations. After his arrest on Friday, he was bailed until October.
The "News of the Screws", as the News of the World is commonly known, made its name with sensational scoops about sex, crime and celebrities.
But it has been dogged by allegations of phone hacking for years and claims this week that a murdered girl and the families of dead soldiers were targeted turned the row into a national scandal.
In a shocking move on Thursday, Murdoch cut his losses and shut the paper, although there is speculation that he will replace it with a Sunday version of the six-day Sun, another of his News International titles.

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