News Corp. phone-hacking case gets uglier - and paper gets shut down

It's beyond the same function -- the News of the World was essentially the Sunday edition of the Sun. Separate staffs, as is typical for Sunday papers in Britain, but they were definitely stablemates.

And yeah, as I said on the other thread, expect to see the Sunday Sun within three months.

 

Hugh Grant really was great on Channel 4 News a few days back. He summed up the whole affair nicely.

 

Some 500 Fleet Street journalists/employees are now without jobs because of the scandal. From the other side of the pond (sub-editors are copy editors):
In solidarity with colleagues at the News of the World, tonight Sub-Editors at The Sun newspaper have walked out of work in protest. At the same time as the protest, inside the building, News of the World staff were being told about the redundancies. The company has told staff they will receive a 90 day payment which covers the legally required consultation period for job cuts. This exposes the cynical deceit of James Murdoch who earlier today said: “We will communicate next steps in detail and begin appropriate consultation".


Also, after watching that Ch. 4 News interview, I heart Hugh Grant more than ever.

 

Me too.

 

Hugh was also quite good when he debated/slapped around the former editor, on air, on another channel.

 

This story just keeps chugging a long.

Hacking scandal: is this Britain's Watergate?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-scandal-is-this-britains-watergate-2309487.html

 

Brilliant work by the News of the World staff in its last edition:
Inside, the crossword contained some hidden messages to the boss from its furious staff: clues and answers included "criminal enterprise," "catastrophe," "smell like a small fish," "mix in prison," "disaster," "stench," "racket" and "menace."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/07/10/2011-07-10_rupert_murdochs_disgraced_news_of_the_world_prints_final_edition_says_thank_you_.html#ixzz1RkZ8nHf0

 

And there's this:

Cherie Blair has said that her husband's decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 was a "close call". So it was – and there is evidence that the final decision was taken only after Murdoch's encouragement was received and his blessing given. Blair talked to the media tycoon three times on the telephone in the 10 days before the US-led invasion. Details obtained under freedom of information show Blair called Murdoch on 11 March, 13 March and 19 March 2003. British and US troops began the invasion on 20 March, with the Times and Sun voicing total support.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/09/phone-hacking-scandal-rupert-murdochhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/09/phone-hacking-scandal-rupert-murdoch

 

http://www.mediaite.com/online/report-rebekah-brooks-arrested-by-london-police/

 

If Rebekah Brooks needs work now, she can always go back to singing for Simply Red.

 

Surprised no one covering the story has mentioned that Gannett had its own version of phone shenanigans (albeit on a much lesser scale) in Cincinnati in the late 1990 IIRC.

The Enquirer had a major expose of questionable practices by Chaquita, but much of it was based on voice-mail hacking by the lead reporter. Ended up costing a few lower-rung execs their jobs.

 

The head of the Metropolitan Police resigned as it became public he was on the Murdoch pad. Bribery of police goes way beyond voice-mail hacking. It almost surely won't happen, because Obama doesn't have the nerve for it, but under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Rupert Murdoch could be liable for U.S. jail time as well as the British jail time that might be headed his way. There's nothing like an arrest to turn a close and trusted employee into a major stool pigeon.