NOTW closure – what the papers say
Our round up of the best lines from today's newspapers on the closure of News International's flagship sunday title the News of the World:
Don Mackay in the Daily Mirror:
"No wonder foot soldiers lined up in front of a corporate firing squad feel betrayed, punished for a series of scandals from an era before many started working on the title."
He continued:
"Get rid of a bad apple to grab a shiny new one – a classic Murdoch sleight of hand.
"But such a cynical gamble with people's livelihoods illustrates why News International should never take over BSkyB."
John Lloyd in the Financial Times:
"The decline of the English Titillator has been swift, unsentimental and – even with all the cancers its newsroom acquired while under the Murdoch tutelage – cruel."
The Daily Mail responded to the NOTW closure:
" The Mail does not dance on the News of the World's grave. The death of any newspaper diminishes democracy. The sanctimonious crowing over its demise by such individuals as the sex pervert Max Mosley and that compulsive liar Alastair Campbell is truly sickening.
"Ultimately, the News of the World's downfall can be blamed on hubris. The Murdoch empire thought it had the politicians, the police – and Britain's media – in its pocket."
Andrew Gilligan in the Telegraph:
"No doubt there will be hollow laughter around some breakfast tables at this. The danger right now is that the wave of disgust sweeps all before it. It is true that all media organisations from time to time use tactics that may, to some, seem morally dubious. We sometimes pay for information. We sometimes use subterfuge.
"But the difference is that unlike the News of the World, where hacking seems to have been almost a reflex, most newspapers employ subterfuge, payment and the like rarely, carefully and on stories of real public interest. In a country as secretive as Britain, there is sometimes no other way to obtain information of vital public importance. Had The Daily Telegraph not paid its sources, all you would have seen of the MPs' expenses would be acres of blacked-out paper."
Stephen Glover in the Independent:
"My belief is that Rebekah Brooks will have to go, and that James and even Rupert Murdoch may not be safe. Temporarily closing a newspaper – for that is what this announcement amounts to – should not divert our attention from the main culprits. This is a desperate ploy by a dysfunctional company."
William Rees-Mogg in The Times:
"The first rule of newspaper ethics, as with the ethics of political life, is not to lose touch with the moral codes of the audience: common sense, goodwill, help to neighbours, decent conduct in general.
"In financial terms, the News of the World was of far less importance to the future of the [News Corp] group than BSkyB. The NoW was a rather elderly cash cow for the business; the BSkyB purchase could greatly strengthen the ability of the Murdoch business to finance further ventures on a global scale in the face of determined competition. The NoW was something above a financial indulgence but it would have become an indulgence too far to allow the failings of judgment in one newspaper to block far more promising developments.”
