News of the World Closing in Wake of Phone Hacking Scandal

James Murdoch: News International to Shut Down News of the World

James Murdoch announced that News of the World, the British tabloid at the center of the phone hacking scandal, is shutting down. Murdoch didn't have much of a choice: contributors and advertisers were fleeing NOTW like rats from a sinking ship.

News of the World, run by News International (which is in turn owned by News Corp.), will run its last issue on Sunday, July 10. According to Murdoch, revenue from the last issue of NoW will go to "good causes".

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The phone hacking scandal implicates the Metropolitan Police, as well: NOTW paid over £100,000 in bribes to London cops, and Prime Minister David Cameron's cozy relationship to News International, which heavily supported his bid for control of 10 Downing Street, is also under examination.

News International: A Toxic Company

Meanwhile, News International's bid to take over BSkyB will need further examination, though it's unclear why the bit isn't being thrown out entirely in the wake of a scandal in which over 3,000 private citizens saw their mobile phones hacked at the behest of a tabloid.

One reason why the BSkyB deal has not been summarily scrapped is because David Cameron is buddies with the Murdochs, and he knows on which side his bread is buttered: without News International, would Cameron have become Prime Minister?

Of the owner of News International, Alex Wilks of Avaaz said, "He's become toxic.... Politicians want to stay away from Rupert Murdoch, not give him presents at times like this."

Rupert Murdoch is trying to stay under the radar, but today is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for News Corp. As for the Metropolitan Police, one suspects that its nightmare is only beginning.

Andy Coulson: Former Editor Arrested

Former NOTW editor Andy Coulson will be arrested on July 8 over his alleged role in the scandal. At least the police were polite enough to alert him ahead of time, right? At any rate,this is a black mark for PM David Cameron, who had hired Coulson as his Director of Communications. Coulson resigned from that post, too, as the scandal grew.

Will The Sun Run 7 Days a Week?

Closing down News of the World is arguably a management stunt: a shell game to shield those responsible for the phone hacking scandal by simply moving them to a different publication. Any bets that The Sun will now run seven days a week? The rank-and-file staffers at NOTW are basically screwed: good luck getting hired at a newspaper at the best of times, never mind with "phone hacking scandal" stamped across your CV. Management, though, have so far escaped any consequences from the scandal.

The Met is speeding up Operation Weeting, since any leaks of private info shared between News International and the police will damage their efforts to control the spin on the unfolding story: remember that the police are implicated, too.