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16 Jul 2011 15:35

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World: News of the World scandal: Did Scotland Yard turn a blind eye?

  • After the past week, that assertion has been reduced to tatters, torn apart by a spectacular avalanche of contradictory evidence, admissions by News International executives that hacking was more widespread, and a reversal by police officials who now admit to mishandling the case.
  • New York Times reporter Don Van Natta Jr. • Discussing the News of the World phone-hacking case in a piece that suggests that Scotland Yard had played a role in keeping evidence of hacking under wraps. “At best, former Scotland Yard senior officers acknowledged in interviews, the police have been lazy, incompetent and too cozy with the people they should have regarded as suspects,” the article continues. “At worst, they said, some officers might be guilty of crimes themselves.” Maaaan, this is getting messy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jul 2011 15:22

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World: News of the World hacking scandal gets messier amid resignations

  • worse After weeks of scandal tainted News Corp to its core, a woman at the center of the ongoing News of the World phone-hacking scandal — News International leader Rebekah Brooks — resigned Friday.
  • worser Hours after Brooks left her job, Les Hinton — a Rupert Murdoch’s longtime confidante who headed the Wall Street Journal and was Brooks’ predecessor during the time of the alleged hacking — also resigned.
  • worsest Now various claims are floating around that the scandal has damaged relationships between some of Murdoch’s children. Murdoch, meanwhile, apologized profusely in a series of newspaper ads. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jul 2011 10:28

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Biz, World: Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB deal straight-up goes bust, painfully

  • We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate.
  • News Corp. chairman Chase Carey • Explaining why the company chose to drop out of the coveted BSkyB deal  which they had been gunning for for a while. However, this mess with News of the World happened, and here we are. Right now, the company’s problems center on the United Kingdom, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller is threatening to give them some increased stateside scrutiny. This could be bad. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jul 2011 14:22

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World: News Corp. hacking scandal spreads to second paper

  • worse Shareholders owning stock in News Corp have sued the company in the wake of the shutdown of News of the World. The shareholders own less than 1 percent of the company combined. They’re also suing because News Corp took over Shine Group, Ltd., a company owned by Rupert Murdoch’s daughter.
  • worser Another News Corp. paper, The Sunday Times, has been accused of using identity theft (“blagging”) to steal personal information from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, including information on Brown’s son — possibly leading to their early reporting on his cystic fibrosis. That means TWO papers are now implicated. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jul 2011 11:28

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World: Readers react to the death of News of the World

  • I think it’s a shame because they’ve done a lot of good, they’ve riddled out a lot of, let’s say, nasty people. It’s unfortunate that a few people have brought it down. But they have got no choice because they condemned others so they have got to show they are accountable.
  • Newspaper vendor Jean Natella • Offering her take on the closing of News of the World. Say what you will about the paper’s tactics, but they have shown results in the past, though the problem the paper has faced has been one of culture. As another reader, Michael Mitchell, puts it: “I don’t think it should close; I think the people responsible should not be there. They have, I feel, overstepped the mark. Or they’ve been found out, because if this paper is doing it you can bet the majority of them are doing it as well.” We can get behind that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jul 2011 11:56

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World: Rupert Murdoch’s son James liable in News of The World hack?

You would not believe the kind of migraine a long-term phone-hacking scandal causes. The younger Murdoch could face charges in both the U.S. and UK over the allegations. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2011 13:48

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U.S.: Elizabeth Smart is joining ABC News — as a contributor

  • She’s going to comment on missing persons cases to give people the perspective from the family. This is pretty good, because this is a unique perspective that she can do well — and it’s one that is often overlooked. What’s better is that she’s willing to do this, despite what happened to her in the past. But one has to wonder if this gives into the tabloidy nature some of these stories fall into. That said, it will certainly be interesting to see what she has to say, and hopefully adding her voice to those kinds of stories will help people see the bigger picture. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Jul 2011 13:28

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World: News of the World shut down because it’s the easy way out

  • So what to do? Cut your losses. Fold the paper. Wash your hands of the whole ordeal. You can expect News Corp’s rhetoric about ‘moving on’ to start today. And that’s how you get out of a scandal with all the top executives’ jobs intact.
  • Hamilton Nolan, editor at Gawker • speaking brilliantly about the end of the News of the World. Basically, they were going downhill fast because of their hacking scandal. Instead of actually working through it, it seems like Rupert Murdoch’s son, the owner of the paper, took the easy way out and just shut the paper down. That way, they don’t have to worry about advertising, or damage control, or anything else that goes on with a scandal like this. Ultimately, News Corp. is a business that focuses on making money on top of its journalism. And it didn’t look like NOTW would be making any money for a long, long time. So they picked their best option. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jul 2011 10:13

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World: News of the World scandal: A father’s reaction to being hacked

  • I just felt stunned and horrified. I find it hard to believe someone could be so wicked and so evil, and that someone could work for an organization that even today is trying to defend what they see as normal practices.
  • Graham Foulkes, father of a 2005 London bombing victim • Reacting after learning that he was on a possible list of people whose phones have been hacked by News of the World. As you might imagine, it’s not the kind of news one takes well, and in the case of Foulkes, who will mourn the sixth anniversary of his son’s death later this week, it only makes things more difficult. Foulkes wants leadership at News Corp. to change, starting with Rebekah Brooks, the chief of News International who once edited News of the World, but denies she knew what was going on. “She’s gotta go,” he said. “She cannot say, oops, sorry, we’ve been caught out. Of course she’s responsible for the ethos and practices of her department. Her position is untenable.” Do you agree? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 10:22

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World: News of the World opens up new realm of unethical journalism

  • Surely now we should hear from David Cameron and Ed Miliband. It’s utterly disgraceful that they’ve let this scandal run on for as long as it has. No more cowardice — we want action.
  • Labour parliament member Tom Watson • Reacting to the news that “News of the World,” the U.K. tabloid publication, hacked into teenager Milly Dowler’s voicemail after she went missing in 2002. But it gets worse — apparently, after Dowler’s voicemail got full, they deleted messages in hopes of receiving more of them. But the end result was that it gave her family false hope, because it made them think she deleted the messages. In reality, Dowler was murdered, but News of the World crossed a very strong ethical line in hopes of getting a story. It’s one they’ve crossed before, by the way. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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