After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

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After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Jul 07, 2011 3:02 pm

Hack job! Murdoch axes paper to save deal

LONDON (Reuters) - In an astonishing response to a scandal engulfing his media empire, Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World on Thursday, Britain's biggest selling Sunday newspaper.

As allegations multiplied that its journalists hacked the voicemails of thousands of people, from child murder victims to the families of Britain's war dead, the tabloid hemorrhaged advertising, alienated millions of readers and posed a growing threat to Murdoch's hopes of buying broadcaster BSkyB.

Yet no one, least of all the paper's 200 staff, was prepared for the drama of a single sentence that will surely go down as one of the most startling turns in the 80-year-old Australian-born press baron's long and controversial career.

"News International today announces that this Sunday, 10 July 2011, will be the last issue of the News of the World," read the preamble to a statement from Murdoch's son James, who chairs the British newspaper arm of News Corp.

Staff gasped and some sobbed as they were told of the planned closure of the 168-year-old title, the profits of whose final edition will go to charity.

"No one had any inkling at all that this was going to happen," said Jules Stenson, features editor of News of the World, outside the News International offices.

It seemed a bold gamble, sacrificing a historic title that is suffering from the long-term decline of print newspapers to stave off a threat to plans to expand in television: "Talk about a nuclear option," said a "gobsmacked" Steven Barnett, professor of communications at Westminster University.

But some analysts predicted Murdoch would make The Sun, the tabloid daily that is Britain's best-selling newspaper, a seven-day operation and that the demise of the News of the World would ultimately benefit News International's bottom line.

For more see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... IO20110707
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby Jack Bennest » Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:05 pm

Let us be honest - who of us reads a RM owned paper every day - or at least views the world through his thinking? ... :argue:


What Canada needs is more independent newspapers if that form of media is to survive. I am tiring of the glitter only papers that I once
thought led the pack.
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:35 pm

Anyone in radio knows the rules when it comes to the recording and broadcasting of phone calls..

Which prompts one to ask: What news editor would ever dare think that hacking into private cell phones and trolling through voice mails for news stories might be a good idea?

... and how long did these guys imagine that they might actually get away with it... before the whole scheme would inevitably backfire and bite them right in the backside? :neutral:
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby Paul P » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:54 pm

I would like to see examples of these 'rules' of which you speak.
Is it illegal here and in the UK? Where does it specifically say that.
And why do you bother posting if you're going to argue with anyone that makes a comment?
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby Jack Bennest » Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:28 pm

Let me give you the "Phillips" rule on phone conversations - You record the whole phone call without mentioning it.
At the tail end of the conversation you say -' I would like to record your comment on this and that'. Later you use
anything on the tape that was interesting. To be quite honest I cannot really remember what rules I used but
never got sued by a source. Most of the usual suspects were smart enough to know what was going on.

In the days I am speaking of - if you were fair and reported stories from left and right and did it honestly - most people respected
the reporters who put them on the air.

.
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby Paul P » Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:14 pm

So Jack, what you're saying, is something we all know: it is not illegal to record phone conversations, be it directly or indirectly.
What Kendrick is going on about is ethics, something that is missing from a large segment of society today.
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby Mike Cleaver » Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:35 pm

Some will remember the days when phone calls that were being recorded or broadcast live in Canada had to have a "beep" injected every ten seconds so the caller was aware his or her comments were being recorded or broadcast.
I think my brother still has one of the tube type "broadcast couplers" provided by Bell with the separate microphone and speaker boxes.
These were annoying to everyone, in that the "beep" often obscured a word or two of the conversation, sometimes words that were vital to the comments being understood, ie: a sum of money being spent, etc.
Later, the "beep" was disabled in favour of telling the caller before the recording or broadcast began that their comments were being captured for broadcast live or in the future.
As for recording by microphone anything legally in this country, if one person consents to the recording (and it can be the person doing it surreptitiously,) the recording is legal.
But you cannot tap into someone's telephone line or cell phone or voice mail without a warrant to have it legally acceptable in court.
The laws about recording and capturing information by these methods vary by jurisdiction and country.
As anyone who traveled used to be advised, "know before you go" what the rules are regarding recording in your destination country.
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54 years experience at some of Canada's Premier Broadcasting Stations
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby J Kendrick » Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:36 pm

Paul P wrote:So Jack, what you're saying, is something we all know: it is not illegal to record phone conversations, be it directly or indirectly.
What Kendrick is going on about is ethics, something that is missing from a large segment of society today.


Ethics, yes... maybe "rules" about recording phone calls was a poor choice of words... but the point is the same, nonetheless. It is generally accepted that you're supposed to notify the person you are interviewing on the phone that he or she is being recorded.. but, of course, any of the methods that might be employed to avoid any possible legal difficulties are not altogether unknown. ;-)

What the 'News of the World' was doing here, however, has crossed a new threshold of ethical questions in journalism. Certainly, the newspaper's editors could not have found a more effective way of upsetting more people more quickly... even if they had tried.
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby PMC » Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:27 pm

Anyone watch Fox News, and see/hear how they are using this story ? I don't have Fox on cable so I don't know, but would like to know, since Murdoch owns it. I would guess they are playing it down, or changing the details to make the company look good :razz:
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby J Kendrick » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:14 am

Post removed due to duplication. These computer things don't always do what you expect them to do when you hit the "submit" button. JK :neutral:
Last edited by J Kendrick on Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby J Kendrick » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:16 am

PMC wrote:Anyone watch Fox News, and see/hear how they are using this story ? I don't have Fox on cable so I don't know, but would like to know, since Murdoch owns it. I would guess they are playing it down, or changing the details to make the company look good :razz:


The biggest news item out of London currently appearing on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News website is headlined "U.K. Lowers Terrorist Threat Level". Nothing about the "News of the World' scandal on their news pages at all.

Their only mention of the story appears to have been relegated to the Fox Business pages with a Reuters piece on the question of how the scandal's fallout might affect News Corp's bottom line.
See: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011 ... -investor/
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby PMC » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:45 am

J Kendrick wrote:
PMC wrote:Anyone watch Fox News, and see/hear how they are using this story ? I don't have Fox on cable so I don't know, but would like to know, since Murdoch owns it. I would guess they are playing it down, or changing the details to make the company look good :razz:


The biggest news item out of London currently appearing on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News website is headlined "U.K. Lowers Terrorist Threat Level". Nothing about the "News of the World' scandal on their news pages at all.

Their only mention of the story appears to have been relegated to the Fox Business pages with a Reuters piece on the question of how the scandal's fallout might affect News Corp's bottom line.
See: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011 ... -investor/


Why am I not surprised there is nothing on it. That Reuters piece quoting the 9th largest sharehold, claiming the News Corp shares are undervalued is a real laugh... if the dirt keeps flying, the shares could drop further. In one piece I saw, Hugh Grant the actor seems to have played private investigator and dug up some of the dirt. The paper had dumped on him previously, and he said that he took one of the reporters to a pub for lunch and the info flowed.

Some have a word for it.... karma :tail
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby hagopian » Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:04 pm

"Anyfing for da story, right, Guv?...?"

Lovely folks.
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Re: After 168 years... Scandal closes News of the World

Postby PMC » Tue Jul 19, 2011 10:50 am

hagopian wrote:"Anyfing for da story, right, Guv?...?"

Lovely folks.


The cracker group called Lulzsec has now pulled e-mails from the Sun and former News servers, and are releasing the same to the world, through a Twitter account. They are claiming that the contents will effect the senior executives, `Rebekah Wade and Bill Akass, the former editors of the Sun and News of the World respectively as well as Lee Wells & Danny Rogers, Editorial Support Manager at News International and Sun Online Editorial Manager respectively, as a taster of what's coming next'... I am quoting slashdot on this bit.

I went to the Twitter account of Sabu, a Lulzsec rep, to read the details. http://twitter.com/#!/@AnonymousIRC

If you missed the groups first trick, they redirected the main Sun webpage to another that claimed Rupert Murdoch was dead, and that was quickly correctly. The cracker group continued on to pull the e-mails.

This story is getting to be as popular as the Wikileaks activity.
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