News International. The Saga Continues...

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Not terribly surprising; to say that its brand had been irreparably tarnished would be a massive understatement. Hopefully a lot of people go to prison. The News of the Screws always did like harsh sentences, so hopefully quite a few of those get dealt out.

Anyway, 1843-2011. An important part of popular culture for almost all that period, but it won't be missed.

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Much, much bigger. The NOTW is 168 years old and is, despite it all, a 'proper' newspaper which poltiicians, celebrities and public figures will talk to.

Yeah. It once had the highest circulation figures in the world and still sold around two and a half million every week before recent events broke.

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Also rather important: http://politicalscrapbook.net/2011/07/news-of-the-world-boycott-roundup-which-advertisers-are-out/

Seems that they were only left with four advertisers by the time the plug was pulled.

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Also rather important: http://politicalscrapbook.net/2011/07/news-of-the-world-boycott-roundup-which-advertisers-are-out/

Seems that they were only left with four advertisers by the time the plug was pulled.

Right, giving Murdoch credit for doing the right thing is out of the question - it was all about money.

Well, it's probable that the closure of the paper has more to do with the BSkyB deal and trying to save Brooks than the money from advertising.

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Sunday Sun anyone?

There's already a paper of that name in the North East. So it would have to be The Sun on Sunday or some vile pun on Sunday.

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Hacks on the paper (and its sister) are less than pleased. Reports of a likely NUJ strike.

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Not just Coulson, but apparently a second (unnamed) former senior hack at the paper as well.

Related: Sun subs walked out for around half an hour in protest at the closure of the Screws.

Now onto the other NewsCorp papers, unworthy of being used as toilet paper.

On that note, I always enjoy reading the Guardians view on incidents like these as the Guardian Media Group are no saints...

Especially with regards to what could be euphemistically referred to as financial arrangements, yes. No clean hands in the newspaper industry, even if some are significantly dirtier than others.

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Things you don't want on your wikipedia page:

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Coulson has been arrested.

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Goodman has been arrested again, which is interesting. He works for the Daily Star now and their offices were raided.

Anyways, meeting between Brooks and the Screwed staff should be happening about now.

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Via twitter:

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The problem that Cameron has over this isn't the links to News International in general (playing - partisan - politics with those would be a good example of someone being shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this establishment), but the specifics regarding Coulson. When it comes to News International (or the press generally) all politicians are compromised, but there's a fundamental difference between being compromised and hiring Coulson shortly after he'd resigned in the circumstances that he had.

What it is though - right now all it is - is a sideshow. Yes, it raises questions about Cameron's judgment, and because of that it weakens and damages him (although to an uncertain extent), but this scandal isn't really about him (unless things take a turn for the seriously surreal at some point). It is about the press in general and the Murdoch empire in particular, and also about police corruption. And so is actually far more important than if it were a normal 'political' scandal. After all, Prime Ministers come and go, but Murdoch is forever.

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Which is more useful? A chocolate kettle or the Press Complaints Commission.

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I do hope that the hack on Newsnight that Steve Coogan tore to shreds was an actor.

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http://twitter.com/#!/RupertMurdochPR

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Also: http://www.youtube.com/user/NOTWPhoneHacking#p/u

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Not to forget b3ta:

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I think it was more the case that she 'offered' her 'resignation' back then; ah, but you can't kill a landslide.

Obviously good news that she's finally gone, though. Hopefully prison awaits.

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Thoughts on the committee hearing?

I don't completely get why Cameron's running away from this whole thing. Refusing to ask Brooks to go, refusing to debate today. Has he got something to hide? Even Clegg's climbed out from under his rock (hadn't heard much about him for about a month and a half) to say a few words about it.

In fairness to Cameron he only ran away once or twice, which isn't that much considering the level of embarrassment wrt Coulson and Chipping Norton (that is, extreme). It just looked terrible because of the speed at which this story has moved.

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Les Hinton is gone as well.

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Worth a read, I suppose: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/wintour-and-watt/2011/jul/15/john-yates-watergate

Oh yes. Something else.



Anyone else think it looks like a newspaper advert from the 80s?

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Brooks has been arrested.

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Sir Paul Stephenson has become the latest head of the Met to resign as a result of scandal.

Maybe we need a change of thread title?

Or just a new thread?

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Is the affair about to turn towards Dave again? Or is Mike Smithson over-egging it again?

I've not read that site in years, but Smithson always over-eggs things. That way you look like a genius two times a day.

I mean, it's very unlikely. But if it does happen and you openly speculated about the possibility; ah - how insightful you look.

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Brooks is from Cheshire, you know. Explains a lot.