Murdoch Tabloid Giant ‘News Of The World’ Shutting Down Amid Hacking Scandal
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — A phone-hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s “News of the World” tabloid appears to have taken down one of the largest English-language newspapers in the world.
News International Chairman James Murdoch was quoted by BBC as telling staff that the “NoW’s” own inquiry into earlier hacking claims was inadequate and suggesting that the paper had misled Parliament.
He said the July 10 edition would be the paper’s last.
A scandal erupted over specific suspicions that “NoW” had approved the hacking of telephones of slain schoolgirl Milly Dowler after her disappearance, and accusations of more hacking into the mobile telephones of victims of the deadly London bombings in July 2005.
The Sunday-only tabloid has already acknowledged that it hacked into the phones of politicians, celebrities, and royal aides.
“The Guardian” has quoted a police detective as suggesting that the number of phone-hacking victims could number in the thousands.
There are two ongoing police investigations, with which News International representatives said the company was cooperating.
Murdoch said in the statement that the paper’s activities “have been sullied by behavior that was wrong — indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company.
There were unanswered questions over the possible effects on other Murdoch-held media.
“News of the World” reportedly employs around 200 people and has been published for 168 years
