The News of the World was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper from 1843 to 2011 that was published every Sunday in the United Kingdom. It was formerly the world’s best-selling English-language newspaper, and it still had one of the greatest English-language circulations at the time of its shutdown.
John Browne Bell, who recognized crime, sensation, and vice as the themes that would sell the most copies, founded it as a broadsheet.
In 1891, the Bells sold it to Henry Lascelles Carr, who sold it to Rupert Murdoch’s media company News Limited in 1969. The newspaper was reorganized as News International, a division of News Corporation, and turned into a tabloid in 1984, becoming the Sunday sister paper of The Sun.
The News of the World focused on celebrity scoops, gossip, and populist news in particular. It was given the nickname News of the Screws because of its somewhat obscene obsession with sex scandals.
It developed a reputation in its last decade for using insiders and journalists in disguise to offer video or photographic evidence, as well as clandestine phone hacking in ongoing police investigations, to expose celebrities’ drug usage, sexual peccadilloes, or criminal crimes. In October 2010, sales averaged 2,812,005 copies per week.
The newspaper was engulfed in charges of phone hacking beginning in 2006. These culminated in the disclosure on July 4, 2011, that a private investigator hired by the newspaper had intercepted the voicemail of Milly Dowler, a missing British teenager who was subsequently found murdered, nearly a decade earlier.
On July 7, 2011, News International announced the shutdown of the publication in the face of public outcry and the withdrawal of advertising.
When the paper was accused of hacking into the phones of relatives of British servicemen killed in the war, the issue grew even worse. Police probing charges of phone hacking and corruption have detained senior individuals from the publication for interrogation.
Former editor Andy Coulson and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, who was sentenced for phone hacking in 2007, were arrested on July 8, 2011.
Former executive editor Neil Wallis was arrested on July 15, 2011, and former editor Rebekah Brooks was arrested on July 17, 2011, making her the eleventh person taken in custody. On February 17, 2012, during a visit to London, Murdoch said that a Sunday edition of The Sun, which would replace the News of the World, will be released soon.
The first edition of The Sun on Sunday would be produced on February 26, 2012, according to an announcement made on February 19, 2012. Former News of the World journalists would be employed.
Table of Contents
News of the World – Some of the Editors
- John Browne Bell, 1843.
- John William Bell, 1855.
- Walter John Bell and Adolphus William Bell, 1877.
- Emsley Carr,1891.
- David Percy Davies, 1941.
- Robert Skelton, 1946.
- Arthur Waters, 1947.
- Reg Cudlipp, 1953
- Stafford Somerfield, 1960
- Cyril Lear, 1970.
- Peter Stephens, 1974
- Bernard Shrimsley, 1975
- Kenneth Donlan
- Barry Askew, 1981.
- Derek Jameson, 1981.
- Nicholas Lloyd, 1984.
- David Montgomery, 1985.
- Wendy Henry,1987.
- Patsy Chapman, 1988
- Stuart Higgins, 1993
News of the World – Notable Contribution
“famous Fleet Street crime reporter… Norma Rae” was the Chief Reporter in the 1950s.
Bob Bird was the final editor of the Scottish News of the World.
Victoria Newton is the last deputy editor on the team.
Neville Thurlbeck Is the man behind the Beckham/Loos story
Showbusiness – Dan wootton
News of the world – Controversies
“chequebook” Journalism
The paper became known for its checkbook journalism, as it was frequently caught trying to buy articles about the private affairs and relationships of persons close to public figures including politicians, celebrities, and high-profile criminals.
With this goal in mind, the newspaper has bribed important witnesses in criminal cases such as the 1966 Moors murders case and Gary Glitter’s 1999 trial on charges of abusing an underage adolescent admirer.
Campaign against pedophilia (2000)
Following the abduction and death of Sarah Payne in West Sussex in July 2000, the newspaper launched a contentious campaign to name and humiliate alleged pedophiles. During Roy Whiting’s trial, it was revealed that he had previously been convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault against a minor.
The decision of the paper resulted in some actions being taken against those suspected of being child sex offenders, including several cases of mistaken identity, including one where a pediatrician’s house was vandalized, and another where a man was confronted because he was wearing a neck brace similar to one worn by a pedophile when pictured.
Gloucestershire’s then-chief constable, Tony Butler, described the campaign as “grossly irresponsible” journalism. The tabloid also advocated for the passage of Sarah’s Law, which would provide public access to the sex offender registry.
A scandal over phone hacking
In 2006, the paper’s reporters utilized private detectives to get illicit access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts belonging to a range of people who were of interest to the paper.
Clive Goodman, the paper’s royal correspondent, was sentenced to four months in prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to illegal eavesdropping of personal communication; the paper’s editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks prior. Further details about the scope of the phone hacking, as well as how it was general knowledge within the News of the World and its News International company, emerged in 2009/2010.
According to a former newspaper reporter, “Everyone was aware of the situation. The office cat was well-informed “, regarding the illicit methods employed to obtain information for tales. Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator hired by the newspaper, said in court on 17 January 2011 that he had been instructed by the paper’s leadership to hack voicemail accounts on its behalf.
In April 2011, victims’ attorneys claimed that the News of the World had hacked the phones of up to 7,000 people; it was also revealed that the paper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch tried to persuade Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour Party MPs to “step back” from the investigation.
Three of the newspaper’s journalists were first detained: Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck on April 5th, and James Weatherup on April 14th. The newspaper “unconditionally” apologized for their April 2011 phone hacking actions.
On July 4, 2011, it was revealed that relevant evidence had been removed from Milly Dowler’s hacked voicemail account in spring 2002 when she was still missing but later discovered to have been murdered.
In 2006, a prize was offered for information on Murders.
The newspaper announced a record-breaking reward of £250,000 on December 13, 2006, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or persons responsible for the deaths of five prostitutes in the Ipswich area of Suffolk.
The prize went unclaimed, and six days later, Steve Wright was arrested on suspicion of murder after unrelated information was used to link him to the deaths. At his trial 14 months later, he was convicted guilty of all five murders and condemned to life in prison.
The Victoria Beckham ‘kidnap plot’
Mazher Mahmood, a News of the World undercover reporter known as the Fake Sheikh, purportedly discovered a conspiracy to kidnap Victoria Beckham in 2002. Five individuals were detained, but the trial was called off after it was revealed that the News of the World had paid Florim Gashi £10,000 to work with Mazher Mahmood.
Florim Gashi eventually admitted to plotting the kidnapping alongside Mahmood. This prompted Scotland Yard to launch Operation Canopus, an investigation into the News of the World.
News of the World – Awards
- “Newspaper of the Year”(2005)
- “Scoop of the Year” (‘Archer resigns’ in 2000; ‘Beckham’s secret affair’ in 2005; ‘Cricket corruption’ in 2011)
- “Front Page of the Year” (‘Huntertley in his jail’, 2004)
- “Reporter of the Year” is a title given to a journalist who has excelled in his (Gary Jones, 1995,[79] Mazher Mahmood, 1999,[80] 2011[81])
John Browne Bell in London originally published the newspaper as The News of the World on October 1, 1843. It was the cheapest newspaper of its time and was aimed directly at the newly literate working classes, costing three pence (equivalent to £1.24 in 2019) even before the abolition of the Stamp Act (1855) or paper duty (1861).
It immediately made a name for itself as a source of titillation, shock, and criminal information. Much of the source material came from police accounts of purported brothels, streetwalkers, and “immoral” women, which included gruesome transcripts of police descriptions. The 1924 Women’s Olympiad was held at Stamford Bridge in London, and the newspaper sponsored it.
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