Tomorrow will be known for the last published issue of the News of the World after an intense week of allegations around phone hacking. This was especially around the Milly Dowler murder case where the family of the murdered teenager were given false hope after a journalist had deleted voicemails, making it look like she was listening to them. Personally I cannot say that I have ever read the newspaper and therefore cannot comment on its content, but clearly as Britain's largest newspaper it was clearly selling well. Clearly hundreds of journalists who did their jobs properly then losing them on account of the few who chose to take it too far is never a joyful event. However, what I now find interesting is the continuing backlash that now is faced not only by those highest in the News of the World and Murdoch Imperium.
Rupert Murdoch himself is now expected to come to the UK in order to deal with the crisis himself, which is surely an indication of how badly things have gone awry. Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson (now forced to leave his post as government advisor), and former Royal Editor Clive Goodman have both been released on bail pending further investigation. Furthermore, calls have been made for Rebekah Brooks, Editor at the time when Milly Dowler's phone was hacked, to step down, and Brooks is no longer in charge of News Internationals own investigation into the drama.
Indeed, one wonders how tenable the position of Murdoch himself now is considering that even the British Prime Minister David Cameron is now defending his position in employing Coulson. The Medias role in supporting politicians, or not as the case may be, has been called into question by Cameron, and the politician's own reliance on the Media as a tool for public support. The whole thing reminds me slightly of the BP oil spill in the Mexican Gulf, where Tony Hayward, chief of BP lost his job due to his role in the spill. My only qualm over that was that Carl-Henric Svanberg, Chief Executive of BP also did not lose his. I think it's a positive trend however, that those within the powerful positions have now started being answerable for their actions.
One can hope perhaps that the shutting down of News of the World, a drastic move, has served as a sufficient warning to those journalists that would conduct themselves in such a fashion, or more importantly, that those in the higher positions take heed as well. Personally I suspect that more heads will have to roll before anyone has learnt their lesson from this.
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