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 Some of the newspaper’s largest advertisers had already withdrawn their advertising in disgust, and the British government has said that it would “consider carefully” whether to allow the takeover of BSkyB by News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.

The police said they have to contact as many as 4,000 people listed in documents seized during their investigation. In addition to reports that the probe into the disappearance of murdered school Milly Dowler was compromised, the News of the World also reportedly hacked into telephones belonging to the families of victims of the London bombings in July 7, 2005, as well as the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

This misconduct cannot just be buried with the News of the World. Those responsible must compensate those who have been wronged, along with those honest people working for the newspaper who will now be out of work through not fault of their own.