By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
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| A policeman stands outside the offices of the Sunday Times and the News of the World (Photo: BBC) |
LONDON, UIK (ANS) -- A blot on the British media world, the News of the World, a 168-year-old tabloid which has been accused of hacking into the mobile phones of crime victims, celebrities and politicians, is finally to go away.
This good news for many in the UK, finally came to a head with Monday's revelation that a private investigator working for the paper had hacked into the phone messages of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the families of 7/7 bombing victims.
The targets were no longer celebrities and politician but ordinary people already going through dreadful experiences.
This morning, as more advertisers pulled out, it became clear many people did not want to be associated with the News of the World.
So finally, this paper which produced a disgraceful weekly Sunday diet of scandal, dirt and gossip, will finally be shut down and, I along with many others, will say "Good Riddance."
The BBC reported, "This Sunday's edition of the News of the World will be its last, News International chairman James Murdoch [son of Rupert] has said, after days of increasingly damaging allegations against the paper.
"On Thursday, the Met Police said it was seeking to contact 4,000 possible targets named in seized documents."
Its editor Colin Myler said it was "the saddest day of my professional career."
He added that "nothing should diminish everything this great newspaper has achieved." Of course, I disagree with what it has achieved, except for causing so much distress to so many people. What a record to try and defend!
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A typical front page of the paper |
News International has refused to comment on rumors that the Sun, which is almost as bad as the News of the World, could now become a seven-day-a-week operation.
"What happens to the Sun is a matter for the future," a spokeswoman for News International said. The Sun, another News International tabloid, is currently published from Monday to Saturday.
The spokeswoman also refused to say whether the 200 or so employees at the paper would be made redundant, saying: "They will be invited to apply for other jobs in the company."
I have to admit that during the dark days of my years in the British tabloids, my first-ever shift on a Sunday paper was with the News of the World, something I am not proud of.
I was also a victim of their nasty tactics when they once "exposed" me for working for the rival Sunday People and also doing some freelance work for a missionary society in the UK. Fortunately, my bosses at the paper stood by me, and I didn't lose my job, much to the chagrin of the News of the World reporter who had boasted that he would end my career.
The British tabloids are amongst the worst in the world for destroying people, but the News of the World was in a league of its own for the way it went after people and then tried to destroy their lives and careers.
Nicola Pearson of BBC News, Wapping, wrote, "The atmosphere outside News International's Wapping headquarters is one of shock and bewilderment.
"Staff had no idea what was coming - they were told the previous day that the paper would be rebuilding its reputation. Rebekah Brooks was inside the building when the staff were informed that the paper was closing.
"She was apparently in tears, as were many of the journalists. There was said to be a huge amount of anger that Rebekah Brooks has kept her job whilst theirs had been lost.
"Most staff left this evening shaking their heads. One, their political editor, David Wooding [no relation] spoke to reporters outside. He said he was baffled at the decision, describing the paper as a clean outfit and saying most staff were not working there when the hacking is alleged to have happened."
The BBC reporter went onto say, that this evening, some of the Sun's journalists - the sister paper to the NoW, told the BBC they were walking out for a short period in solidarity with their colleagues.
The News of the World's political editor, David Wooding, who joined 18 months ago, said it was a fantastic paper. Wow, what a statement which its many victims would dispute!
The Guardian says that Andy Coulson, formerly David Cameron's director of communications, will be arrested on Friday morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his time as editor of the News of the World.
The Guardian also says that a former senior journalist at the paper will also be arrested in the next few days.
In a statement made to staff, Mr. Murdoch said the good things the News of the World did "have been sullied by behavior that was wrong - indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company.
"The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself."
He went on: "In 2006, the police focused their investigations on two men. Both went to jail. But the News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose.
"Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.
"As a result, the News of the World and News International wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter.
"We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences. This was not the only fault.
"The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts. This was wrong.
"The company paid out-of-court settlements approved by me. I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret."
He said: "So, just as I acknowledge we have made mistakes, I hope you and everyone inside and outside the company will acknowledge that we are doing our utmost to fix them, atone for them, and make sure they never happen again.
"Having consulted senior colleagues, I have decided that we must take further decisive action with respect to the paper. This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World."
Another view
Recalling his youthful experiences with Britain's dailies, ANS Senior Reporter Michael Ireland, who grew up in the United Kingdom in the 60s and 70s, told me: "My Dad mostly bought the Sunday Times or The Observer on the weekends -- the so-called 'heavies' or 'serious' papers, complete with glossy, full-color magazine inserts -- as well as The Sunday Mirror, but occasionally the scandalous News of the World -- plastered with pictures of scantily-clad models that would show up for reasons I wasn't entirely sure about -- or the Sunday People, which wasn't quite as bad.
"Otherwise, during the week, it was normally the Daily Mirror, and sometimes the Daily Express or the Daily Mail, and at other times the Sun and, on his way home from work, he would bring in the Evening Standard, and yet other times it was the Evening Mail. On other days, the Guardian would appear, and still on other occasions, the Daily Telegraph.
"In those days there were as many as 13 or 14 national daily papers in Britain, and you could take your pick, depending on whether or not you wanted 'tabloid journalism,' aimed at the working class, or 'serious' broadsheet reading for the more intellectual among us."
Ireland went on to say: "As I was growing up, the stories of scandal and intrigue in the tabloids seemed so very far away from our quiet suburban lives in Ealing, west London, yet some of these racy stories were happening right in our own backyard in suburban hamlets and tiny English villages all around the country. I suppose it's often surprising what goes on behind closed doors at your next door neighbor's house.
"I guess the experience of reading a cross-section of British journalism styles and techniques made me realize that there are many ways to report the news, including the 'go-for-the-jugular,' 'foot-in-the-door' type of reporting done by the Sunday People and the News of the World, who used to try to out-do each other for the raciest, sleaziest, and most dramatic and scurrilous of tales for Sunday morning entertainment. In comparison, American journalism seems quite tame."
He added: "We were church-going, working-class folks, but it didn't seem to matter to my Dad that I got a mix of 'serious' and 'tabloid' papers to read. So I was exposed to a wide variety of newspapers in my growing up years. This experience left me wanting to be a 'Scribe' so badly in the worst of ways...But I never really became a Hack in the true sense of the word, or even a Hacker... I may yet have another 15 or 20 years left to reach that stage!"
So there you have it. The News of the World will soon be no more, but my concern is that the Sun may take its place as the Sun on Sunday. What a terrible thought which I hope never occurs. I can only hope and pray that it doesn't happen.
| Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link. |
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