Is Alan Rusbridger Britain's Ben Bradlee?

As the Guardian's hacking investigation gained another scalp today with the departure from News International of Rebekah Brooks, US ad industry mag ADWEEK is comparing Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger to the legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee of Watergate fame.

ADWEEK says that in Rusbridger Murdoch has "met his match" and his company is now in peril "and none of that would have happened were it not for the fierce, dogged persistence of Alan Rusbridger and The Guardian, the newspaper he runs."

ADWEEK adds: "But if you had to pick a man for this role from Central Casting, you almost certainly wouldn't pick Rusbridger. Ben Bradlee, The Washington Post editor who ran that other legendary investigation once upon a time, was a man who looked the part—the kind of man who, his own reporters once said, would "grind his cigarettes out in a demitasse cup during a formal dinner party." Rusbridger, 57, is different—he looks more like Harry Potter's lonely uncle than the kind of man capable of bringing down Rupert Murdoch.

"But he was willing to stick with the phone hacking scandal even when it seemed like no one outside The Guardian cared at all. All told, the paper has been on this story for five years now. Though it looks like a wise investment in retrospect, those were five years during which Rusbridger was sacrificing not only money but the time and efforts of some of his best reporters for a story that could very well have gone nowhere."

What Murdoch thinks of Rusbridger:

According to Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff: "Murdoch did not know quite what to make of Rusbridger and his Internet ambitions, seeing him as something quite different from a newspaper man, at least one in the Murdoch mold. He did not insult Rusbridger, as he does most of his competitors, but he didn’t quite regard him as someone he might ever want to be alone with either: 'Kooky,' was his description. 'And what’s with the way his hair falls in his face?' Murdoch asked once, scowling in his dark way, about Rusbridger’s bangs and mop-top. 'How old is he? He looks like a kid'.”

Rusbridger: 'How Nick Davies burst the NoW dam' The investigation that closed a rogue newspaper

Great tribute by Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on Comment is Free today to Nick Davies' dogged work in uncovering the News of the World phone hacking scandal, which came before the shock news that News International will close the title after this Sunday (see NI statement below).

Rusbridger notes: "Sometimes the forward momentum of newspaper investigations is virtually invisible to the naked eye. It's lucky that Nick Davies is an exceptionally patient reporter because there must have been times during the past two years when he felt no one wanted to hear what he was so clearly saying.

"Nick's first story on the full extent of the phone-hacking scandal was published almost exactly two years ago – on 8 July 2009. It was – or should have been – explosive. It reported that a major global media company - News International - had paid out £1m secretly to settle legal cases which revealed criminality within their business.

"With any non-media company this revelation would have led to blanket coverage, calls for resignations, immediate action by the regulator etc. Instead there was a kind of ghostly silence."

Rusbridger adds: "And so we settled in for the long haul. Week by week, story by story, column by column, doorstep by doorstep, Nick Davies prised open the truth.

"There were some other heroes: a handful of lawyers and MPs and a few journalists – on the New York Times, Independent, FT, BBC and Channel 4.

"But it was pretty lonely work for those at the heart of it. And there were plenty of people yawning from the sidelines, claiming it was all a bit obsessive. But investigative journalism is a bit obsessive. Sometimes it works by small, incremental, barely perceptible steps.

"Scroll forward two years and the full truth of what was going on at the News of the World is dramatically being stripped bare. Some kind of mental dam has been broken. MPs, journalists, regulators and police are speaking confidently again as they should. The palpably intimidating spectre of an apparently untouchable media player has been burst."

NI statement to staff on NoW closure: News International today announces that this Sunday, 10 July 2011, will be the last issue of the News of the World.

Making the announcement to staff, James Murdoch, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation, and Chairman, News International said: “I have important things to say about the News of the World and the steps we are taking to address the very serious problems that have occurred. It is only right that you as colleagues at News International are first to hear what I have to say and that you hear it directly from me. So thank you very much for coming here and listening.

"You do not need to be told that The News of the World is 168 years old. That it is read by more people than any other English language newspaper. That it has enjoyed support from Britain’s largest advertisers. And that it has a proud history of fighting crime, exposing wrong-doing and regularly setting the news agenda for the nation.

"When I tell people why I am proud to be part of News Corporation, I say that ourcommitment to journalism and a free press is one of the things that sets us apart. Your work is a credit to this.The good things the News of the World does, however, have been sullied by behaviour thatwas 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 added: "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 wrong doing 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."

He also admitted: "This was not the only fault. The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts.This was wrong."

Murdoch added: "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.

"Currently, there are two major and ongoing police investigations. We are cooperating fully and actively with both. You know that it was News International who voluntarily brought evidence that led to opening Operation Weeting and Operation Elveden. This full cooperation will continue until the Police’s work is done.

"We have also admitted liability in civil cases. Already, we have settled a number of prominent cases and set up a Compensation Scheme, with cases to be adjudicated by former High Court judge Sir Charles Gray. Apologising and making amends is the right thing to do."

There is speculation that we will see a Sun on Sunday emerge from the ashes of the News of the World.

NUJ condemns closure of the News of the World

NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet said “This shows the depths to which Rupert Murdoch and his lieutenants at News International are prepared to stoop. The announcement James Murdoch should be making today is the dismissal of Rebekah Brookes as chief executive of News International.

"The shocking revelations this week show beyond doubt the systemic abuse and corruption at the top of the operation ran by both Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. Yet News International has persistently lied about the extent of this scandal and tried to pass it off as a problem created by a couple of rogue reporters.

“Closing the title and sacking over 200 staff in the UK and Ireland, and putting scores more freelances and casuals out of a job, is an act of utter cynical opportunism. Murdoch is clearly banking on this drawing a line under the scandal, removing an obstacle to the BskyB deal, and letting his senior executives off the hook. That simply won’t wash. It is not ordinary working journalists who have destroyed this paper’s credibility – it is the actions of Murdoch’s most senior people.

“James Murdoch was absolutely right when he said in his statement today that ‘Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad.’ Yet those wrongdoers are still there today, at the top of the News International empire and ordinary staff at the paper are paying with their livelihoods.

“The closure of the News of the World – a newspaper that has been in print now for 168 years – is a calculated sacrifice by Rupert Murdoch to salvage his reputation and that of News International, in the hope that readers will switch allegiance to a new seven-day operation at The Sun, the government will wave through the BskyB deal and he will widen his grip on the UK’s media landscape."

She added: “It is ironic that 25 years after the Wapping dispute it is the behaviour of Rupert Murdoch and his management that has caused the closure of the newspaper. The NUJ will offer all support to its members at the News of the World facing compulsory redundancies and will be organising an emergency meeting of all journalists at the title to offer advice and support.”

Hacked Off Statement on Closure of News of the World

The announcement by News International that this Sunday’s News of the World will be the last does not alter the need for a full public inquiry into phone hacking and related matters.

Indeed James Murdoch’s statement raises further questions about the conduct of senior figures at the company. We feel that the closure of a 168-year-old title, with the consequent loss of jobs, is a destructive act which actually underlines the need to get to the truth.

Hacked Off will continue to press for a judge-led public inquiry, with full powers to establish:

· The extent of the use of illegal information-gathering methods by the press, directly and through intermediaries;

· The conduct of the Metropolitan Police Service in investigating these matters, and its relations with the press;

· The communication between press and politicians in relation to these matters;

· The conduct of the Press Complaints Commission and of the Information Commissioner, and of other relevant parties such as mobile telephone companies;

· The lessons to be learned from these events and actions to be taken to ensure they are not repeated.

We are currently preparing proposals on what should be the remit, the timing and the composition of a public inquiry.

The Hacked Off campaign is committed to ensuring that the public find out the details and scale of illegal intrusion employed over a sustained period and that those responsible are exposed.

Sun subs in walk-out

According to the NUJ, in solidarity with colleagues at the News of the World, tonight sub-editors at the Sun walked out in protest.

The union claimed: "At the same time as the protest, inside the building, News of the World staff were being told about the redundancies. The company has told staff they will receive a 90 day payment which covers the legally required consultation period for job cuts.

Pic: Nick Davies at City University (Jon Slattery) and his Guardian splash two years ago on the hacking scandal.

Guardian's 'editorial cake' will not be sliced up

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger has denied on Twitter that the paper's "digital-first" strategy will lead directly to job cuts.

Instead, he says the size of the Guardian's "editorial cake" will remain the same, but the money will be used in different ways.

Earlier he tweeted: "In Moscow, just caught up w Twitter. It's not t 'digital-first' bit tt leads 2 job cuts. Actually hiring 2 do tt. It's t broken old model."

Interviewed by Steve Hewlett on BBC Radio 4's The Media Show yesterday, Rusbridger said the paper needed to recruit more multi-media developers: "We need to get more developers in with digital skills and we are losing money so we will need to reduce the cost base. Yes, we will need to lose some people and will try to do it in a voluntary way."

Pressed by Hewlett on the scale of the job losses, he added: "We will need to lose significant numbers but we don't need to do it tomorrow. We can do it over the next couple of years and have a civilised conversation about that."

Guardian will be making 'significant' job cuts

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger has confirmed that the paper will be making "significant" job cuts.

He told Steve Hewlett on BBC Radio 4's The Media Show today: "We need to get more developers in with digital skills and we are losing money so we will need to reduce the cost base. Yes, we will need to lose some people and will try to do it in a voluntary way."

Asked by Hewlett what scale the job losses would be?, Rusbridger replied: "We will need to lose significant numbers but we don't need to do it tomorrow. We can do it over the next couple of years and have a civilised conversation about that."

Will Google ever be able to do this? Celebrating 190 years and the moments that made the Guardian

A superb exhibition on 190 years of the Guardian has opened at its Kings Place office in London showing the amazingly rich history of a paper whose origins go back to the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819.

The massacre couldn't be reported by a Times journalist because he had been locked up. Instead a couple of Manchester businessmen supplied The Times with the story of how the cavalry had charged a crowd demanding reform at St Peter's Field, killing 15 and injuring many others. They went on to found the Manchester Guardian in 1821.

Brilliantly curated by Stephen Moss, the exhibition is divided into 190 moments that have made the Guardian. It is a wonderful tribute to what makes a newspaper at a time when the future of the printed press is so much in doubt.

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, speaking at the opening of the exhibition, admitted that it was impossible to say what the circulation of the paper will be when it celebrates its 200th anniversary in 10 years time. "People love print, I love print, " he said "But there are all these forces conspiring against print."

He said a few years ago it would have been incredible to think the Guardian would be reaching 49 million readers a month on the internet.

Rusbridger said there was a thread running through the Guardian from the early days, and the way in which it had risked unpopularity by opposing the Boer War and the Suez invasion, to Paul Lewis investigating the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London in 2009 and being the only paper prepared to report on phone hacking by News International.

Among the exhibits on show are Guardian correspondent Frederick Voight warning about the rise of Hitler, Richard Gott seeing the body of Che Guevara after he was killed in Bolivia and an article by D.H. Lawrence about young soldiers heading for the front in 1914, unfortunately bylined "H.D. Lawrence".

As well as famous front pages showing the first man on the moon, the sinking of the Titanic and the Kennedy assassination there are the more quirky features that make up a newspaper.

For example, the April 1 1977 spoof supplement on San Serriffe, ruled by General Pica, which led to some readers asking if they could book a holiday on the mythical islands. And the Guardian really did run a comic strip featuring the scantily clad Varoomshka.

I love print and left the exhibition thinking will 190 years of Google ever match what a newspaper like the Guardian could do?

Alan Rusbridger: 'Privacy injunctions have not threatened Guardian's investigative journalism'

National newspapers may be expressing increasing outrage against privacy injunctions but Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger said last night that they have had no impact on his paper's investigative journalism.

"The Guardian has never yet been sued under any kind of privacy law. There have been general injunctions, which bind us, like anyone else. There have been actions over confidence. And I stand ready to be outraged at the first time someone sues us over an invasion of privacy," he said.

Rusbridger, giving the Anthony Sampson lecture at City University, added: "On privacy, I've never yet been threatened. If you look at investigative journalism in the last couple of years, the Guardian has done as much anybody. BAE, torture, policing of demonstrations, phone hacking, WikiLeaks and all that. Nothing we've done has been touched by privacy and I feel reasonably confident that the kind of stuff we do has a high public interest attached."

He did say, however, that because of the secrecy surrounding privacy injunctions it was hard to judge their number and general impact.

On libel law reform, Rusbridger said: "As journalists we have to convince other people, including the people we now especially want to influence – parliamentarians — that the public interest will be served by change. If we're going to win this argument we have to begin by acknowledging that our own interest – the journalistic instinct towards greater freedom of expression – clashes with other interests, laws, ethical frameworks and narratives.

"If we want to ask parliament for more permissive laws, people are bound to ask the question: to do what? Can you really discuss libel and privacy without also asking whether self-regulation actually works? Can you pull at the tangled issues of libel without considering how you define the public interest in privacy cases?

"How, MPs reasonably ask, can we as an industry argue that self-regulation works when it evidently failed quite spectacularly over phone hacking? Phone-hacking – and the inadequate response so far of the regulator – matter because they betray a certain journalistic mindset to privacy and because they undermine the story we tell parliament and the public about why we should be trusted with self-regulation and with more permissive laws.

"We now know, for instance, that one newspaper employed at least four private investigators — one of them fresh from seven years in jail for blackmail and perverting the course of justice – to systemically hack, track, blag and otherwise pry into the private lives of numerous people in public life — from royalty, through politics to celebrities and blameless people who just happened to be caught up in the news, such as the relatives of the two Soham girls murdered by Ian Huntley."

He added: "What I've tried to suggest tonight is that it is increasingly difficult to look at one of the laws affecting free speech in isolation from each other – and from the sort of standards and expectations that are going to be widely debated in society in relation to government, the state, the internet and business.

"Where is the rounded debate about all this happening? In parliament, universities and think tanks; among lawyers and all over the web. Journalists themselves – caught between lobbying, a general defensive crouch, fighting cases and reporting – find it difficult to join in.

"One thing I'm sure of: it's not enough to assert our arguments as if they were self-evidently right and to use our privileged platforms to drive home one-sided advocacy. That's not how these issues will be resolved. We have to engage with the wider arguments."

Answering questions, Rusbridger said despite his criticism of the PCC he still favoured self-regulation of the press rather than statutory control.

Pic (Jon Slattery)