News of the World

Casey Watts Year 1Digital Media Journalism CATS

What is the News of the World?

News of the World was a national newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011.

It was originally established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell.

It had a reputation for exposing national or local celebrities as drug users, sex freaks or criminals, setting up insiders and journalists in disguise to provide either video or photographic evidence, and phone hacking ongoing police investigations

History

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/gallery/2011/jul/08/history-news-of-the-world

1. Founded in 1843 by John Browne Bell. 2. Originally priced at threepence, it was the

cheapest newspaper in the UK. 3. It was purchased by Rupert Murdoch in 1969, he

transformed it into a tabloid newspaper with a heavy focus on sex, crime and scandal.

4. Following allegations of phone hacking and corruption, James Murdoch announced the closure of the paper in July 2011.

The rise and fall of News of the World1843 – News of the World is founded by John Browne Bell1891 – The newspaper was acquired by Lascelles Carr.1950 – Became biggest selling newspaper with sales of over 8,440,0001960 – It merged with The Empire News1969 – Rupert Murdoch bought the newspaper.1984 – Paper changed to tabloid format2002 – alleged to have hacked the phones of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman parents.2006 –First mention of phone hackings made public2007 – Clive Goodwin jailed after pleading guilty to illegal interception of personal communication2010 – Libel actions brought by Norwich City FC and Brad & Angelina2011 –Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire testifies that he was asked to hack phones by News of the World. James Murdoch announced the newspaper was closing down. Its circulation in April 2011 was 2.6m.(The Drum, 7th July 2011, http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2011/07/07/history-news-world-1843-2011)

Media Ownership The News of the world has been owned by Media mogul Rupert Murdock since 1969 . He owns many companies ranging from Sky to The Times Newspaper.

He is at the forefront for Media ownership, and is one of the many people (not corporations) owning media companies.

Who is Rupert Murdock? “Rupert Murdoch (born 11 March 1931) is a

controversial multinational media mogul” “Australian-born Murdoch built an empire of

newspapers and tabloids that spilled from Australia to England, on to the United States and beyond; expanding into television, films, the Internet”

News Corp, Murdoch’s holding company, has become synonymous with his name.

(NNBD, 2011, http://www.nndb.com/people/420/000023351/)

Just to name a few.....

Sky, Sky News, Fox Movie Channel, Fox News Channel, Fox Regional Sports Networks , Fox Sports Net, Fox Reality, Premier Media Group, Premium Movie Partnership, National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, SPEED Channel. FOX Business NetworkFOX College Sports, Fox Deportes, Fox Movie Channel, Fox Pan American Sports (33%), Fox Regional Sports Networks, FOX Soccer Channel, FOX Sports Net, FSN, FUEl TV, FX, Nat Geo Wild (71%), National Geographic Channel United States (71%), SPEED, STAR, Stats, Inc. (50%), Fox Television Stations, Sky Deutschland, SKY Italia, Sky Network Television Limited (44%)TATA Sky, The Advertiser and Sunday Mail (Australia), The AustralianThe Courier-Mail , The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph,Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia), Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun (Australia), mX (Australia), The Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian (Australia)News of the World (U.K.), Northern Territory News and Sunday Territorian (Australia), Perth Now (Australia),The Sun (U.K.), Sunday Times (Australia), The Times and The Sunday Times (U.K.), Weekly Times (Australia)Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal AsiaThe Wall Street Journal Europe, The Wall Street Journal Radio

Phone hacking scandal The News of the world illegally

intercepted voicemails and phone calls of prominent people to find stories. In April, they admitted unlawfully intercepting phone calls.

How did they do it? “Mobile phones used to come with a

default four-digit Pin. Customers were expected to change their Pin, but very few did” (BBC News, 17th August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1403005)

Journalists could ring the number and if the caller didn't answer, enter the Pin and access the person's messages.

Who are the main players in the phone hacking scandal?

News of the world was apart of Murdoch’s international newspaper group. When questioned by MP’s about the phone hacking scandal he said he was not aware of the extent of the phone hacking and said he had been mislead by some of the staff.

News Internationals former chief and former News of the world editor. Mrs Brooks was the editor when the voicemails of Millie Dowler were illegally intercepted. She was arrested on 17 July 2011 over phone hackings. Questioned by MPs, she said News International had acted "quickly and decisively" in dealing with the hacking scandal and that she had never sanctioned payments to the police.

Rupert Murdoch

Rebekah Brooks

News of the world editor between 2003-07, resigned his position following the convictions of royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire for phone hacking. Mr Coulson was arrested in July 2011 and later bailed over phone hacking allegations.

Jailed in January 2007 for phone hacking. He admitted unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages received by three royal aides. He was also convicted of hacking the phones of a number of other public figures, including publicist Max Clifford and actress Elle Macpherson

Andy Coulson

Glen Mulclaire

Clive Goodman

Jailed for four months for phone hacking. He admitted unlawfully intercepting hundreds of telephone voicemail messages received by three members of staff at Buckingham Palace.

Who are the possible victims?

Bob, Sally and Gemma Dowler

Hugh Grant

Christopher Jefferies Sienna Miller

Steve Coogan http://youtu.be/SkeSJLgzG8k

History of the police investigation

Met Chief Sir Paul Stevenson, resigned following criticism for employing the papers former executive as an employee.

In 2006, the metropolitan police faced criticism following their investigation into the phone hackings. In January 2011, they chose not to re-open the case. Emails were found of documents relating to phone hackings on Ian Edmondson Newspapers computer. Victims claimed the police were unwilling to re-open the case due to their close ties with the media. Its has been alleged that a small number of police officers have received payoffs from the paper. On 30th July, the Scotland yard launched an inquiry into the phone hacking

How has News International dealt with the scandal?

- News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch, issued an apology in the UK national newspapers.

- James Murdoch, chairman of News International, claimed he had been mislead by staff at News of the world about the extent of the hackings.

- At the House of Commons Culture Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch gave evidence to say that they was not aware of the extent of the phone hackings.

- On the 15th July, Clive Goodman released a letter detailing that the senior figures were aware of the extent of the phone hackings.

Closure of The News of the world

In April 2011, James Murdoch announced the closure of the newspaper.

“The final edition signed off with the front cover ‘Thank you and goodbye’ and issued an apology inside” ” (BBC News, 17th August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1403005

How has the closure of the newspaper been viewed?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012436/News-World-shutting-Titillation-yard-scoops-galore.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14070862

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/jul/08/phone-hacking-and-sacrilege

What is the future for News of The World?

Speculators have been quick to suggest that the News of the World could quickly be replaced by News International by the Sunday Sun.

References and bibliography

BBC.com ‘Q&A Phone hacking scandal [online] available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1403005 [accessed on the 17th August 2011]

The Drum, ‘History of the news of the world’ [online] available at http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2011/07/07/history-news-world-1843-2011 [accessed on the 7th July 2011]

NNBD, ‘Rupert Murdoch’[online] available at http://www.nndb.com/people/420/000023351/ [accessed on 2011]