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http://www.salon.com/news/rupert_murdoch/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/07/06/murdoch_scandal
Wednesday, Jul 6, 2011
By Alex Pareene
News of the World is a British Sunday tabloid newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch since 1969. It, along with the daily Sun, is where Murdoch perfected the salacious tabloid format he'd eventually import to America, where it found much more success as a television station. The basic formula hasn't changed: rabid right-wing politics, sexy girls, constant bellowing outrage, celebrity scandal and a general disregard for journalistic ethics. That News Corp culture -- prizing scoops above all else, from basic human decency to, sometimes, truth itself -- is what has led to the "phone hacking" scandal that now consumes the U.K. The News of the World, it turns out, had a long-standing practice of breaking into the voicemails of newsworthy figures, from celebrities to the victims of horrific crimes.
While the practice was originally blamed on a few overzealous reporters, it's clear, now, that it was more or less standard operating procedure for reporters. The victims of News of the World hacking now include multiple murdered teenaged girls (News of the World reporters even deleted old messages in order to make room for new ones to spy on) and the families of victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks. The paper also bribed cops, and Scotland Yard is still contacting additional potential victims of phone hacking with the cooperation of a private investigator retained by News of the World to perform the hackings.
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