The BBC website [visit
link] carries an 'obituary' to the News of the
World. It reads:
"The closure of the News of the World brings to an end
more than 160 years of history.
The Sunday tabloid was first published on 1 October 1843
in London - but this Sunday will see the last edition hit the newsstands. Its
closure comes amid a major scandal over phone-hacking and alleged payments to
police officers.
Owned by News Group Newspapers, part of News
International, which is in turn a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News
Corporation, the News of the World's sales currently average 2,812,005 copies
per week. Its owners claim that it is read by more people than any other
English-language newspaper.
James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer of News
Corporation, and chairman of News International, said the paper had "enjoyed
support from Britain's largest advertisers" and "has a proud history of fighting
crime, exposing wrong-doing and regularly setting the news agenda for the
nation".
Continue reading the main story
Private lives
But it has not been without critics throughout its
history. Coverage of many sex scandals, often of the rich and famous, earned it
the soubriquet of "News of the Screws" in the satirical magazine Private
Eye.
And this interest in private lives goes back
decades.
"It was a very important part of British newspaper
history. In the 19th Century it was one of the highest circulation papers
catering for the newly semi-literate population," says Chris Horrie, tabloid
newspaper historian and co-author of Stick it up your Punter: The Uncut Story of
the Sun Newspaper.
"In the 20th Century - until [Rupert] Murdoch bought it
- it was a strange sideshow in British life, very similar to the saucy seaside
postcard. It was full of dirty vicars. There was a specific loophole in libel
law that didn't allow vicars to sue."
Murdoch's purchase changed things
dramatically.
"Murdoch bought it and completely transformed it. He
turned it into a very modern practitioner of chequebook journalism," says
Horrie.
"The news happened during the week and wasn't exclusive.
But the News of the World would buy up all the stories about celebrities and
politicians and pile them up on a Sunday. It was 1980s chequebook
journalism."
In both prominence and circulation, the News of the
World was king of the Sunday tabloids.
"The paper became completely dominant on Sundays,"
Horrie notes.
"The Mirror group's Sunday Mirror and People were
completely destroyed. So on Sunday Murdoch had these two enormous things - the
Sunday Times and the News of the World. The Mail group were the only significant
competition."
One of the paper's most controversial moments came in
1966, during the Ian Brady and Myra Hindley murder trial, when it emerged in
court that the key prosecution witness had been paid by the paper to give his
side of the story.
David Smith accepted £1,000 and was sent on holiday to
France as well.
The attorney general was asked to investigate what the
judge called "a gross interference in the course of justice" but the newspaper
escaped contempt charges.
In 2000, the paper began a controversial campaign to
"name and shame" alleged paedophiles, following the abduction and murder of
eight-year-old Sarah Payne.
The paper has also campaigned for the introduction of
"Sarah's Law" to allow public access to the sex offenders
register.
The newspaper's report that Formula 1 chief Max Mosley
had paid five women to take part in a sadomasochistic orgy prompted a major
legal battle over privacy.
The High Court ruled in July 2008 that the News of the
World had breached Mosley's privacy. He was awarded £60,000 in
damages.
Arguably the most famous journalist on the paper in
recent years was undercover specialist Mazher Mahmood.
His exposes - often carried out using his disguise as
the "Fake Sheikh" - targeted everyone from the Countess of Wessex to former
England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. The News of the World also claims
he has brought about the conviction of more than 250 criminals.
In August 2010, posing once again as the "Fake Sheikh"
he exposed a group of Pakistani cricketers, accused of
corruption.
Hacking accusations
But the tide began to turn against the paper in January
2007, when its royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn
Mulcaire were jailed for hacking, after it was found they targeted Prince
William's aides.
This set off a chain of events which has led to
accusations of journalists hacking into the voicemails of the families of murder
victims and relatives of UK soldiers killed in action.
Announcing the paper's closure, James Murdoch said the
paper "is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it
came to itself".
Paul McMullan is the former News of the World deputy
features editor who helped blow the whistle on phone-hacking practices at the
paper.
"It's the end of the biggest-selling English language
newspaper in the world - the end of 170 years of history," he
says.
"It was a great part of my career, but I was joyful when
I heard the news.
"Ten years ago I was proud to say I worked at the News
of the World. Last week I was ashamed."
Now, it seems the Sun will be published on a Sunday to
fill the gap, but there will be a question mark over who will inherit the News
of the World's audience.
"Newspaper readers are pretty disloyal," says
Horrie."