News of the World - Scandal is not over yet

The last issue of the News of the World will be published on Sunday. Its parent company, News Corporation, has decided to shut down the newspaper in the wake of the current hacking scandal.

Most fair-minded people may feel that journalism’s loss is humanity’s gain in this instance, but those responsible for such outrageous behaviour are certainly no loss to responsible journalism.

A major factor in the closure was undoubtedly a commercial decision to protect its other associated media, because of the public revulsion over the hacking scandal. Some of the newspaper’s largest advertisers had already withdrawn their advertising in disgust, and the British government has said that it would “consider carefully” whether to allow the takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation.