If someone was to pose the scenario to you that in the upcoming week Britain's best selling newspaper would be shut down; I'd wager that very few people would believe them. But this is the situation of the News of the World, after 168 years of exposés, blowing the lid on celebrity scandal and a snippet of news reporting, the last ever (...debatable) edition of the world infamous red top has came: Sunday 10th July 2011.
"It is Sunday afternoon, preferably before the war. The wife is already asleep in the armchair, and the children have been sent out for a nice long walk. You put your feet up on the sofa, settle your spectacles on your nose and open the News of the World," George Orwell.
Why are they shutting down?
After stories came out revealing that the NotW had hacked into the victims' and families' mobile phones of the 7/7 bombings, Milly Dowler, the Soham murder (Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman) and more recently accusations of the Princess Dianna inquest; Pandora's Box was truly opened. To rub salt in an already gaping wound it was also discovered that a number of police officers had been bribed by the paper to check details and sold information; the integrity of the newspaper was in tatters and advertisers united in withdrawing their funding to show their disapproval. With the public and the world forming a lynch mob there was little chance that the newspaper could redeem it's sponsors or once loyal readers and on Thursday 7th July James Murdoch formally announced that the NotW would close down indefinitely.
Milly Dowler
Horrified and disgusted the public have cast judgement upon the News of the World over the unforgivable phone tapping incidents. Amongst the worst was the Milly Dowler case, where the journalists deleted voicemail messages from her mobile to clear room for more to come through, which unintentionally in turn left the police and family of Milly believing she may still have been alive - as her messages had been listened to.
Celebrity condemnation
Torrents of abuse followed left right and center, celebrities and politicians lined up to take a stab at the News of the World. The likes of Steve Coogan and Hugh Grant, as well as listless celebs with an axe to grind barged their way into the spotlight to air their 'invaluable' opinion on the situation; I mean come on Hugh Grant on Question time, are you kidding me? The accounts reeked of hypocrisy and hypocritical celebrities used the news as an opportunity to unleash their anger towards the press, a rare spin from them using it promote themselves or their latest film, TV show, book etc. Taking advantage of the event placed before them and using it as a scapegoat for their annoyance of paparazzi intrusion; and the fact that journalists hold them to account by revealing their wrongdoings of yesteryear and the sordid tales of their lives that they would rather keep behind closed doors. Which is the true burden and curse of their fame, however don't pity them as they either want publicity or do not. By making themselves a focus of the public's interest they bring about the attention that can lead to their undoing more times than not.
Are we partially to blame for the rise in hacking?
Our fascination with the lives of celebrities could partially be to blame for the rise in mobile phone bugging. Ever since the early ages we as a public have been obsessed knowing about the bourgeois society, from tip offs to waiting outside their houses journalists have been keeping you up-to-date by all sorts of immoral, clandestine ways so phone bugging was inevitably the next step to find out what the privileged few do. The NotW, of all newspapers, was famed for leaking gossip and private stories and week after week we bough it. Its sales figures are the evidence of that: 2,812,005 copies sold per week, and by purchasing the paper we actively endorsed it and what it stood for.
Rebekah Brooks (née Wade) It would be pretty naive to think that an editor of a newspaper guilty of bugging peoples phones knew nothing about it... but we'll have to leave the Crown Prosecution Service to decide that. In the meantime she will be reshuffled her back into media mogul Murdochs' organization.
Timing
Does anyone else find it a little fishy that the phone hacking story, predominantly concentrated on the 7/7 bombings, was released just the day before its 6th anniversary? Which then raises the question, how long have newspapers been waiting to release this story?
Is this truly the end for the News of the World?
As speculation has cleverly pointed out, the internet domain name the 'Sunday Sun' was registered but two days before the phone-tapping incidents came to light, so we possibly could see the Murdoch clan's paper reopened under a new name. The phrase 'wolf in sheep's clothing' distinctly comes to mind.
The finale
Myself, nor anyone, can justify the actions of the News of the World, as many have stated phone hacking is inherently wrong, but in some circumstances there is adequate public interest. It's undeniable that without some of the undercover work many worldwide injustices would remain unexposed and unreported.
Tragically, the majority of the journalists who tarnished the reputation of the newspaper have since moved on, so by shutting down the news provider it's only targeting journalists who were mainly uninvolved with the events of yesteryear.
Don't let yourselves by fooled by the celebrities trying to represent your, the public's voice they are manipulative and have their own agendas for jumping on the bandwagon... and most likely something they are releasing soon.
Give it a month and people won't even remember the News of the....erm...who (?) as Hugh Grant once famously said: "Today's newspapers will be lining tomorrows waste paper bins."
(A large thank you to the owners of the photographs, no copyright intended)
