News of the World newspaper closes after 168 years due to hacking scandal.
(Reuters) - Following are key facts about the News of the World newspaper, Britain's biggest-selling tabloid, which has closed after Sunday's edition as a result of a phone hacking scandal:
NUMBERS: The readership of the News of the World was around 7.5 million for each edition between July and December. Circulation - the number of copies sold - was around 2.6 million in April 2011
OVERVIEW: The News of the World is part of News Group Newspapers, a subsidiary of News International, owned by the News Corporation group of Rupert Murdoch. The News of the World was generally considered to have a center-right political stance, but it supported the Labor Party under Tony Blair at his three general election wins (1997, 2001 and 2005.)
ORIGINS: The News of the World was founded by John Browne Bell and the first edition of the paper was published on October 1, 1843, in broadsheet format. It was launched with the statement "Our motto is truth, our practice is the fearless advocacy of the truth."
The newspaper was sold at the low and affordable price of three pence. The aim was to secure circulation amongst the poor, as well as the rich, given that the working classes were newly literate as a result of Victorian education reforms.
The Carr family had a long association with the News of the World. In 1891, the newspaper was acquired by a syndicate including Lascelles Carr, the editor and part-proprietor of the Western Mail newspaper in Cardiff.
The News of the World became the world's biggest-selling English-language newspaper under the Carr ownership and had an average circulation of 8,441,966 copies in 1950.
It merged with The Empire News on October 23, 1960. The Empire News was a Sunday newspaper for citizens of the British Empire or Commonwealth, with a circulation of more than 2.5 million copies.
THE MURDOCH ERA: Rupert Murdoch bought the News of the World in 1969. Developments in the 1980s included "Sunday," the first color magazine to be published alongside the newspaper in September 1981. The News of the World changed from broadsheet to tabloid format on May 20, 1984. Wendy Henry became the first female editor of the paper in 1987.
The leading newspaper supplement in the News of the World was "Score," a football section that is published weekly during the football season.
SCANDAL: The closure comes after a growing raft of revelations about phone hacking involving the News of the World. The main accusations are that journalists, or their hired investigators, listened to messages left for celebrities, politicians or people involved in major stories on their mobile phones.
The latest claim on Thursday alleged the paper hacked the phones of relatives of British soldiers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And the voicemail of murder victim 13 year old Milly Dowler. The parents are rightfully outraged.
LWDLIK- Someone, either the editor Rebekah Brookes or Rupert Murdoch, knew this was going on, sanctioned it and approved payment to those investigators who tapped the phones. Shame on them! And what the hell the British government (David Cameron) was thinking employing the previous NOTW editor Andy Coulson as Communications Director. Or was DC thinking this little talent that AC learned at NOTW might come in handy? What happened to integrity? I do feel sorry for the innocent workers at NOTW who are now without a job because of these unscrupulous characters.
(Reuters) - Following are key facts about the News of the World newspaper, Britain's biggest-selling tabloid, which has closed after Sunday's edition as a result of a phone hacking scandal:
NUMBERS: The readership of the News of the World was around 7.5 million for each edition between July and December. Circulation - the number of copies sold - was around 2.6 million in April 2011
OVERVIEW: The News of the World is part of News Group Newspapers, a subsidiary of News International, owned by the News Corporation group of Rupert Murdoch. The News of the World was generally considered to have a center-right political stance, but it supported the Labor Party under Tony Blair at his three general election wins (1997, 2001 and 2005.)
ORIGINS: The News of the World was founded by John Browne Bell and the first edition of the paper was published on October 1, 1843, in broadsheet format. It was launched with the statement "Our motto is truth, our practice is the fearless advocacy of the truth."
The newspaper was sold at the low and affordable price of three pence. The aim was to secure circulation amongst the poor, as well as the rich, given that the working classes were newly literate as a result of Victorian education reforms.
The Carr family had a long association with the News of the World. In 1891, the newspaper was acquired by a syndicate including Lascelles Carr, the editor and part-proprietor of the Western Mail newspaper in Cardiff.
The News of the World became the world's biggest-selling English-language newspaper under the Carr ownership and had an average circulation of 8,441,966 copies in 1950.
It merged with The Empire News on October 23, 1960. The Empire News was a Sunday newspaper for citizens of the British Empire or Commonwealth, with a circulation of more than 2.5 million copies.
THE MURDOCH ERA: Rupert Murdoch bought the News of the World in 1969. Developments in the 1980s included "Sunday," the first color magazine to be published alongside the newspaper in September 1981. The News of the World changed from broadsheet to tabloid format on May 20, 1984. Wendy Henry became the first female editor of the paper in 1987.
The leading newspaper supplement in the News of the World was "Score," a football section that is published weekly during the football season.
SCANDAL: The closure comes after a growing raft of revelations about phone hacking involving the News of the World. The main accusations are that journalists, or their hired investigators, listened to messages left for celebrities, politicians or people involved in major stories on their mobile phones.
The latest claim on Thursday alleged the paper hacked the phones of relatives of British soldiers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And the voicemail of murder victim 13 year old Milly Dowler. The parents are rightfully outraged.
LWDLIK- Someone, either the editor Rebekah Brookes or Rupert Murdoch, knew this was going on, sanctioned it and approved payment to those investigators who tapped the phones. Shame on them! And what the hell the British government (David Cameron) was thinking employing the previous NOTW editor Andy Coulson as Communications Director. Or was DC thinking this little talent that AC learned at NOTW might come in handy? What happened to integrity? I do feel sorry for the innocent workers at NOTW who are now without a job because of these unscrupulous characters.
Saudis own some of news corp as well.
ReplyDeleteMedia and multinationals... I can go own for ages... but what good is it.
EB
Hi EB, true. But I'm happy that a precedent has been set other media now, at least in the UK, will think twice about tapping phones.
ReplyDelete