Writing the obituary for their own newspaper, News of the World’s journalists prepared their final edition Saturday as Britain’s media establishment reeled from the expanding phone-hacking scandal that brought down the muckraking tabloid after 168 years.
Small clues gave the tone of the London newsroom away _ from a commemorative T-shirt bearing a “Goodbye, cruel News of the World, I’m leaving you today” worn by one staffer, to editors typing tributes to the tabloid’s journalistic victories into newspaper text boxes.
Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire owns the paper, will arrive in London on Sunday on a scheduled visit, a person familiar with his itinerary told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
He is facing a maelstrom of criticism and outrage over the sequence of events set off by allegations the paper’s journalists paid police for information and hacked into the voicemails of young murder victims and the grieving families of dead soldiers.
The recent revelations culminated in the decision to close the paper and put 200 journalists out of work.
The paper’s editor, Colin Myler, offered words of encouragement and sympathy to his staff on a “very difficult day.”
“It’s not where we want to be and it’s not where we deserve to be,” he said in a memo to staff seen by Britain’s Press Association. “But I know we will produce a paper to be proud of.”
The contents of the front page were privy to “only a special few,” according to Helen Moss, a news and features editor who offered refreshments to journalists camped outside the tabloid’s headquarters in a bizarre death watch of sorts.
“I expect it’ll be a massive tribute to 168 years of history ending today,” she said, describing an “extremely emotional” newsroom.
Much of the emotion continued to focus on New International _ a subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corp. _ which took the decision to jettison the paper on Thursday after the new allegations sparked a fierce backlash and the flight of advertisers.
The scandal exploded this week after it was reported that the News of the World had hacked the mobile phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 while her family and police were desperately searching for her. News of the World operatives reportedly deleted some messages from the phone’s voicemail, giving the girl’s parents false hope that she was still alive.
That ignited public outrage far beyond any previous reaction to press intrusion into the lives of politicians and celebrities, which the paper has acknowledged and for which it has paid compensation to some prominent victims, including actress Sienna Miller.
Revelations that journalists paid police for information added fuel to the fire, prompting calls for a boycott and causing dozens of companies to pull their advertising from the paper amid fears they would be tainted by association.
James Murdoch _ tipped by many as a likely successor to his father _ then announced Thursday that this Sunday’s edition of the tabloid would be its last and all revenue from it will go to “good causes free credit score.”
The closure was seen by some as a desperate attempt by the media conglomerate to stem negative fallout and thus save its 12 billion-pound ($19 billion) deal to take over satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.
But the British government has signaled that deal will be delayed because of the crisis and the scandal has continued to unfold with the announcement of three arrests linked to the matter on Friday.
Andy Coulson _ a former News of the World editor and ex-communications chief to Prime Minister David Cameron _ was arrested Friday, as was Clive Goodman, an ex-News of the World royal reporter, and an unidentified 63-year-old man. All three have since been released on bail.
The developments have turned up the heat on Britain’s media industry amid concerns a police investigation won’t stop with the News of the World.
It has also cast new scrutiny on the cozy relationship between British politicians and the powerful Murdoch empire, putting the media baron’s company on the defensive.
Many journalists and media watchers have expressed astonishment that Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of News of the World when some of the hacking allegedly occurred, was keeping her job at head of News Corp.’s U.K. newspaper operations while the paper’s 200 employees were laid off.
She told lawmakers she had “no knowledge whatsoever” of the Milly Dowler hacking or any other case while she was editor, according to a letter published by Britain’s home affairs select committee on Saturday.
“I also want to reassure you that the practice of phone hacking is not continuing at the News of the World,” she said in response to the committee’s request for new evidence. “For the avoidance of doubt, I should add that we have no reason to believe that any phone hacking occurred at any other of our titles.”
While she has been portrayed as a villain in the unfolding story, Brooks _ with strong connections to British politics and decades of experience behind her _ has insisted she is the right person to lead News International through the crisis.
Upping the ante, the Church of England threatened to pull nearly 4 million pounds of investments from News Corp. “if does not hold senior executives to account … for the gross failures of management at the News of the World.”
The church’s ethical investment advisory group said Sunday it wrote to News Corp. saying closing News of the World was not a “sufficient response” to the “utterly reprehensible and unethical” practices uncovered at the tabloid.
Murdoch has opted to remain largely silent amid the fallout, issuing one official statement that made clear Brooks would remain at the helm.
He spoke briefly to reporters in Sun Valley, Idaho on Saturday, where he was attending a media conference. When asked whose decision it was to close the paper he said, “It was a collective decision.”
___
Julie Jacobson contributed to this report from Sun Valley, Idaho.
Source