Charles Moore: 'Don't mourn News of the World'

Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph today has no time for those regretting the passing of the News of the World.

He writes: "It has surprised me to read fellow defenders of the free press saying how sad they are that the News of the World closed. In its stupidity, narrowness and cruelty, and in its methods, the paper was a disgrace to the free press. No one should ever have banned it, of course, but nor should anyone mourn its passing. It is rather as if supporters of parliamentary democracy were to lament the collapse of the BNP."

Indy reveals plan to revive News of the World

An audacious plan is being hatched to revive the News of the World from its deathbed, the Independent reports today.

The Independent says a consortium of media and business figures is attempting to put together a rescue package and revive the title as a responsible investigative newspaper.

At the centre of the group is Susan Douglas, a former editor of the Sunday Express, a former deputy editor of the Sunday Times, and a former executive in numerous media organisations.

Douglas, in the story by Independent media editor Ian Burrell, says the plan would involve taking the existing News of the World staff – who have been invited to apply for new positions at News International – under its editor Colin Myler, out of News Corp and into new ownership.

"I think News of the World readers want the News of the World, and the team that produces it is still extant and haven't done anything inappropriate or unlawful as far as we know," she said.

"The News of the World's trouble is really about misdemeanours of management. People talk about prurience and invading people's privacy but when it's in the public interest, it's completely justified. I think there will be mounting public opinion behind anyone who tried to save the News of the World on that basis."

After 168 years the News of the World says goodbye

News of the Wold political editor David Wooding on guardian.co.uk: "The loss of the News of the World from our lives is a bombshell like the break-up of the Beatles, the collapse of Woolworths and the end of Concorde.

"Only this time, instead of reporting the story, we are it.

"Britain's crooks, thieves, conmen and fakers won't miss the News of the World. But everyone who loved a great story, well told, will."

Woman in my newsagent this morning: "It's absolutely shocking. My Mum wouldn't read any other paper. But he's [Murdoch] coming over today so he might start it again."

Was this the News of the World's best headline?

'Nudist Welfare Man’s Model Wife Fell For The Chinese Hypnotist From The Co-op Bacon Factory'

I can't let the News of the World go without a tribute to one of its greatest - and longest - headlines.

Ex-News of the World reporter Roy Stockdill on Gentlemen Ranters told the story behind the headline and revealed it could have been even more bizarre.

He recalled: "The 15-word, four-deck header, sprawling right across a five-column broadsheet page, appeared above a story written by Ron Mount, one of the paper's veteran foot-in-the-door men. It had all the elements of a Whitehall farce and starred the welfare services chief of a large London borough who was a practising naturist and walked round his home in the buff.

"His wife, a part-time model, had had an extra-marital relationship with a gentleman of Oriental extraction who did indeed work in a Co-op bacon factory and was an amateur hypnotist and therapist in his spare time.

"The nudist welfare chief had actually encouraged his wife's friendship with her Chinese paramour in the belief that he was treating her for problems in their marriage – until, that is, one day he climbed into the loft, drilled a hole in the bedroom ceiling and observed his good lady and the hypnotist indulging in some practical therapy on the bed below."

Stockdill also revealed: "The one fact the otherwise admirable headline omitted was that the welfare chief had managed to get up into his loft despite having two artificial legs, so he was actually a legless nudist welfare man… Unfortunately, the sub later admitted, he couldn't work the word ‘legless’ into the headline for lack of space."

Let's see: "Legless Nudist Welfare Man’s Model Wife Fell For The Chinese Hypnotist From The Co-op Bacon Factory".

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.

Dog eats dog: Mail approaches NoW advertisers

The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is offering to help advertisers and newspaper retailers move business away from News International, publisher of the News of the World, underlining the commercial threat from the escalating phone-hacking scandal, according to a blog post by Sky News' City editor Mark Kleinman.

He writes: "An email sent yesterday by sales executives at Associated Newspapers offered to 'work with' advertisers and major retailers in the event that they 'want to follow public opinion and boycott the News of the World completely'."

Kleinman adds: "It's clear that the Mail publisher is tapping into a potentially significant commercial opportunity given the widespread public revulsion over allegations that NoW journalists accessed the voicemails of murder victims and the families of dead soldiers."

• Another Matt cartoon in the Telegraph today on the battered image of the press shows a dog turning his nose up at a newspaper.