Murdoch shuts down scandal-hit newspaper
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China.org.cn, July 8, 2011
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James Murdoch shuts down scandal-hit newspaper |
News International announced on Thursday it is shutting down the News of the World, Britain's biggest selling Sunday newspaper.
The 168-year-old weekly newspaper would publish its last edition on Sunday, without advertisements, said James Murdoch, who is charge of European operations for the paper's parent company.
The tabloid was found to have hacked into the phone message of a teenage murder victim and was suspected of possibly targeting the relatives of slain soldiers to produce attention-grabbing headlines.
Britons of all stripes said they were disgusted and revolted by the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper's tactics and British lawmakers held an emergency debate in Parliament on Wednesday in which many condemned the paper.
The tabloid's executives had admitted the widespread hacking of cell phones used by celebrities, film stars, royal aides and politicians and reached cash settlements with prominent victims.
Police are now examining 4,000 names of people who may have been targeted by the paper.
The News of the World, which sells close to 3 million copies a week, has acknowledged that it hacked into the mobile phone voice mails of politicians, celebrities and royal aides.
The scandal has tarnished Cameron, who picked as his communications director a former News of the World editor who resigned over the hacking affair. The Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday that the journalist, Andy Coulson, would be arrested on Friday. Police declined to comment.
Responding in parliament to allegations that the News of the World eavesdropped on voicemail for victims of notorious crimes, Cameron said he was "revolted" and would order inquiries, probably into both the specific case and more widely into Britain's cut-throat media.
Shares in Murdoch's News Corp, which also controls Fox television, the Wall Street Journal, London's Times and the New York Post among other titles, were down over 5 percent in New York, while shares in BSkyB fell more than 2 percent.
