LONDON, July 8 (AP): From first to last, for 168 years, the News of the World prospered by selling scandal, crime and titillation to the masses. It wrecked careers, ruined marriages and embarrassed the royal family over and over. If it couldn’t find a scandal, it created one — entrapping some gullible celebrity through the wiles of its famed “Fake Sheik,” Mazer Mahmood. There will be much dancing on the newspaper’s grave.
Last year, the newspaper recorded Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, as she offered to sell access to her former husband, Prince Andrew. In 2005, Mahmood got Princess Michael of Kent to ventilate some sensational opinions including her view that Princess Diana was “bitter” and “nasty.” In 2001, the Fake Sheik drew some indiscreet comments from Sophie, Duchess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward, and that was the end of her career in public relations.
It was the News of the World that exposed the sadomasochistic tastes of Max Mosley, but the Formula 1 boss fought back. He won 60,000 pounds ($96,000) in damages from the newspaper in 2008 for invading his privacy. The Sheik helped orchestrate a plot in 2002 to kidnap Victoria Beckham, wife of soccer star David Beckham, and their two boys. The newspaper paid an informant who egged on the plotters; police were kept informed and arrested five members of the gang on a Saturday, a favorable moment for a Sunday newspaper. The case fell apart in court in 2003.
The newspaper recently spent a lot of time in court, settling claims from people who claimed their phones had been hacked. Actress Sienna Miller collected 100,000 pounds ($160,000), and former Scotland football star Andy Gray got 20,000 pounds ($32,000). Publicist Max Clifford reportedly won 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) in a private settlement and former Professional Football Association chief Gordon Taylor reportedly won 700,000 pounds ($1.12 million). Other claims are lined up for trial.
“Our motto is the truth, our practice is the fearless advocacy of the truth,” proclaimed John Brown, who launched the weekly paper in 1843. A year later, it had the highest circulation of any British weekly at 18,000 copies. The paper flourished under editor Lacelles Carr, who built circulation from 40,000 to more than 4.4 million when he died in 1941. Circulation peaked at 8.4 million in 1950. Rupert Murdoch established his beachhead on Fleet Street by buying the News of the World in 1969. The News of the World remained the biggest-selling paper in Britain until 2008. It was overtaken by Murdoch’s daily tabloid, The Sun, in 2008, and the circulation now stands below 2.7 million.
Last year, the newspaper recorded Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, as she offered to sell access to her former husband, Prince Andrew. In 2005, Mahmood got Princess Michael of Kent to ventilate some sensational opinions including her view that Princess Diana was “bitter” and “nasty.” In 2001, the Fake Sheik drew some indiscreet comments from Sophie, Duchess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward, and that was the end of her career in public relations.
It was the News of the World that exposed the sadomasochistic tastes of Max Mosley, but the Formula 1 boss fought back. He won 60,000 pounds ($96,000) in damages from the newspaper in 2008 for invading his privacy. The Sheik helped orchestrate a plot in 2002 to kidnap Victoria Beckham, wife of soccer star David Beckham, and their two boys. The newspaper paid an informant who egged on the plotters; police were kept informed and arrested five members of the gang on a Saturday, a favorable moment for a Sunday newspaper. The case fell apart in court in 2003.
The newspaper recently spent a lot of time in court, settling claims from people who claimed their phones had been hacked. Actress Sienna Miller collected 100,000 pounds ($160,000), and former Scotland football star Andy Gray got 20,000 pounds ($32,000). Publicist Max Clifford reportedly won 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) in a private settlement and former Professional Football Association chief Gordon Taylor reportedly won 700,000 pounds ($1.12 million). Other claims are lined up for trial.
“Our motto is the truth, our practice is the fearless advocacy of the truth,” proclaimed John Brown, who launched the weekly paper in 1843. A year later, it had the highest circulation of any British weekly at 18,000 copies. The paper flourished under editor Lacelles Carr, who built circulation from 40,000 to more than 4.4 million when he died in 1941. Circulation peaked at 8.4 million in 1950. Rupert Murdoch established his beachhead on Fleet Street by buying the News of the World in 1969. The News of the World remained the biggest-selling paper in Britain until 2008. It was overtaken by Murdoch’s daily tabloid, The Sun, in 2008, and the circulation now stands below 2.7 million.
‘News of the World to shut on Sunday’
LONDON, July 8 (AFP): Britain’s News of the World tabloid will print its last ever edition on Sunday following a scandal over phone hacking, owner Rupert Murdoch’s son James Murdoch said Thursday. “Having consulted senior colleagues, I have decided that we must take further decisive action with respect to the paper. This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World,” he said in a statement.
He said that if allegations that a private investigator working for the 168-year-old Sunday tabloid hacked the voicemail of a teenage girl who was later found murdered were true, they were “inhuman”. “The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself,” he added. “Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.”
James Murdoch said the conviction in 2007 for phone hacking of the paper’s royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had failed to cure the problem. “The News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose.” He added that any advertising space in the final edition would be donated “to causes and charities that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers.”
He said that if allegations that a private investigator working for the 168-year-old Sunday tabloid hacked the voicemail of a teenage girl who was later found murdered were true, they were “inhuman”. “The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself,” he added. “Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.”
James Murdoch said the conviction in 2007 for phone hacking of the paper’s royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had failed to cure the problem. “The News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose.” He added that any advertising space in the final edition would be donated “to causes and charities that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers.”
