News of the World

This article is about the British tabloid. For other uses, see News of the World (disambiguation).

News of the World

File:Newsoftheworld.jpg This inaccurate headline on the private life of Max Mosley was the subject of successful litigation in the case Max Mosley v News Group Newspapers Limited
Type	Weekly newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner(s)	News Group Newspapers (News International)
Editor	Colin Myler
Founded	1843
Political alignment	Conservative
Headquarters	Wapping, London
Circulation	2,812,005 October 2010
Website	www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/

The News of the World is a national disgrace tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom every Sunday. It is published by News Group Newspapers of News International, itself a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and is the Sunday sister paper of The Sun. The newspaper concentrates on celebrity-based scoops and populist news. Its fondness for sex scandals gained it the nicknames "News of the Screws" and "Screws of the World". It also has a reputation for exposing celebrities as drug users or criminals and setting up insiders and journalists in disguise to provide either video or photographic evidence. With sales averaging 2,812,005 copies per week in October 2010, the News of the World is the largest selling English-language newspaper in the world. On 16 September 2010, it was announced that the online website of the paper would be placed behind a paywall.

The editor Andy Coulson resigned on 26 January 2007 over the royal phone tapping scandal. He was succeeded by Colin Myler, a former editor of the Sunday Mirror who had latterly worked at the New York Post. Previous editors of the paper include Piers Morgan and Rebekah Wade who replaced Phil Hall in 2000.

History

The newspaper was first published on 1 October 1843, in London by John Browne Bell. Priced at just three pence, even before the repeal of the Stamp Act (1855) or paper duty (1861), it was the cheapest newspaper of its time and was aimed directly at the newly literate working classes. It quickly established itself as a purveyor of titillation, shock and criminal news. Much of the source material came from coverage of vice prosecutions, including transcripts of police descriptions of alleged brothels, streetwalkers, and 'immoral' women.

Before long the News of the World established itself as the most widely read Sunday paper, with initial sales of around 12,000 copies a week. Sales then suffered because the price was not cut following the abolition of newspaper taxes and the paper was soon no longer among the leading Sunday titles, selling around 30,000 by 1880, a greater number but a smaller proportion as newspaper sales had grown hugely. The title was sold by the Bell family in 1891 to Lascelles Carr who owned the Welsh "Western Mail". As editor he installed his nephew Emsley Carr, who held the post for 50 years. But the real engine of the paper's now quick commercial success was George Riddell who reorganised its national distribution using local agents. Matthew Engel in his book "Tickle the Public: One Hundred Years of the Popular Press" (Gollancz, 1996) says that the "News of The World" of the 1890s was "a very fine paper indeed". The paper was not without its detractors, though. As one writer later related:

Frederick Greenwood, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, met in his club one day Lord Riddell, who died a few years ago, and in the course of conversation Riddell said to him, `You know, I own a paper.' `Oh, do you?' said Greenwood, 'what is it?' `It's called the News of the World—I'll send you a copy,' replied Riddell, and in due course did so. Next time they met Riddell said, 'Well Greenwood, what do you think of my paper?' 'I looked at it,' replied Greenwood, 'and then I put it in the waste-paper basket. And then I thought, "If I leave it there the cook may read it" —so I burned it!'

By 1912 the circulation was two million and around three million by the early 1920s. Sales reached four million by 1939. This success encouraged other similar newspapers, of which the Sunday People, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror are still being published.

Its motto was "All human life is there". The paper's name was linked with sports events as early as 1903 when the golfing tournament The News of the World Match Play Championship began (now under British PGA auspices). The News of the World Darts Championship existed from 1927 on a regional basis and became a national tournament from 1947 to 1990. There was also a News of the World Championship in snooker from 1950 to 1959 which eclipsed the official professionals' competition for a number of years. In athletics, the Emsley Carr Mile race was started in 1953 in memory of the former editor, and is still run today. The paper's Football Annual is a long-standing publication, and a Household Guide and Almanac was also published at one time.

By 1950 the News of the World had become the biggest-selling newspaper in the world with a weekly sale of 8,441,000 and individual editions sold over 9 million copies.

In 1928 the paper began printing in Manchester on the presses of the News Chronicle in Derby Street, moving in 1960 into Thomson House, Withy Grove (formerly known as Kemsley House) when the News Chronicle closed. The move to Thomson House led to the immediate closure of the Empire News, a paper printed there and mainly circulating in the North of England and Wales with a circulation of about 2.5 million. Officially the Empire News and News of the World merged but Thomson House was already printing the Sunday Pictorial (to become the Sunday Mirror) and Sunday Times and did not have any further capacity with the News of the World arriving. In 1985 the News of the World moved out of Thomson House when it was bought by the tycoon Robert Maxwell (and renamed Maxwell House) and after a short spell on the Daily Express presses in Great Ancoats Street moved to a new plant at Knowsley on Merseyside.

Murdoch purchase

The newspaper passed into the hands of Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd. in 1969, snatching the paper from Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press after an acrimonious year-long struggle. Maxwell's foreign origin, combined with his political opinions, provoked a hostile response to his bid from the Carrs and from the editor of the News of the World, Stafford Somerfield, who declared that the paper was—and should remain—as British as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

News Ltd. arranged to swap shares in some of its minor ventures with the Carrs and by December it controlled 40 percent of the NOTW stock. Maxwell had been supported by the Jackson family (25% shareholders), but Murdoch had gained the support of the Carr family (30%) and then-chairman William Carr.

In January 1969, Maxwell's bid was rejected at a shareholders' meeting where half of those present were company staff, temporarily given voting shares. It was Murdoch's first Fleet Street acquisition. Maxwell accused Murdoch of employing "the laws of the jungle" to acquire the paper and said he had "made a fair and bona fide offer... which has been frustrated and defeated after three months of [cynical] manoeuvring." Murdoch denied this, arguing the shareholders of the News of the World Group had "judged [his] record in Australia."

Illness removed Sir William Carr from the chairmanship in June 1969, and Murdoch succeeded him.

The newspaper has often had to defend itself from libel charges and complaints to the Press Complaints Commission as a result of certain news-gathering techniques, such as entrapment, and contentious campaigns. Some of the best-known cases have been the "Bob and Sue" case with reporter Neville Thurlbeck, and various cases involving journalist Mazher Mahmood.

From 1981 a magazine ("Sunday") was included with the paper, and in 1984 the paper itself changed from broadsheet to tabloid format. The paper is printed in London, Liverpool, Dinnington near Sheffield, Portsmouth and Glasgow, with separate Irish editions produced in Belfast and near Dublin. It is also printed at a number of sites abroad including Madrid, Brussels, Cyprus and Orlando in Florida, USA.

Campaigns

Anti-paedophile campaign (2000)

The paper began a controversial campaign to name and shame alleged paedophiles in 2000 following the abduction and murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's decision led to angry mobs terrorising those they suspected of being child sex offenders, which included several cases of mistaken identity, including one instance where a paediatrician had her house vandalised and another where a man was confronted because he had a neck brace similar to one a paedophile was wearing when pictured. The campaign was labelled "grossly irresponsible" journalism by the then Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, Tony Butler. The paper also campaigns for the introduction of 'Sarah's Law' to allow public access to the Sex Offenders Register.

Libel actions brought against the News of the World

• In 2005, England footballer David Beckham and his wife Victoria brought a legal action against the paper seeking libel damages over an article that carried the headline: "Posh and Becks on the Rocks." The legal action was withdrawn in 2006 and "resolved on a confidential basis," according to the couple's spokeswoman Jo Milloy.
• In April 2006, England footballer Wayne Rooney received £100,000 in damages from the publishers of The News of the World and its sister paper The Sun over articles falsely reporting he had slapped his then-fiancée and now wife, Coleen. Both had always denied the reports.
• In June 2006, England footballer Ashley Cole received damages from the publishers of The News of the World over articles incorrectly alleging the footballer had used a mobile phone as a gay sex toy. Together with its sister paper The Sun, The News of the World paid Cole £100,000 to settle the case
• In July 2006, a libel action brought by the Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan came to court in Edinburgh. Sheridan denied allegations, made by the newspaper in November 2004 and January 2005, that he had an affair, engaged in group sex and attended a swinger's club in Manchester. Sheridan won the case and was awarded £200,000 in damages. The newspaper intends to appeal against the jury's decision, and has refused to pay out the money; Sheridan and his wife Gail were charged with perjury; the court case commenced on 4 October 2010. Charges against Gail were dropped and she was acquitted on 17 December 10. Tommy was subsequently convicted on 23 December 10. The case was the longest perjury trial in Scottish history.
• In January 2010 Norwich City Football Club started legal proceedings against the News of the World after they published an article, "Canaries on Brink" on 24 January 2010 claiming that the club had begun the processes of going into administration
• In February 2010, the Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie made plans to sue the News of the World after it published allegations about their relationship.

Newsgathering

Phone hacking scandal

Main article: News of the World phone hacking affair

In 2006, reporters at the paper used private investigators to illegally gain access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts held by a variety of people of interest to the newspaper. In 2007 the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, pleaded guilty to illegal interception of personal communication and was jailed for four months; the paper's editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks earlier. In 2009/2010, further revelations emerged on the extent of the phone hacking, and how it was common knowledge within the News of the World and its News International parent. According to a former reporter at the paper, "Everyone knew. The office cat knew," about the illegal activities used to scoop stories. On January 17, 2011, The Guardian reported that Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator paid by the paper, testified that he had been asked by the newspaper's leadership to hack voicemail accounts on its behalf. In April 2011, attorneys for the victims alleged that as many as 7,000 people had their phones hacked by the News of the World; it was further revealed that the paper's owner, Rupert Murdoch, had attempted to pressure then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour Party MPs to "back away" from investigating the scandal. Three journalists on the newspaper were arrested in: Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck on 5 April and James Weatherup on 14 April. The newspaper "unreservedly" apologised for its phone hacking activities during April 2011. On 4 July 2011, it was disclosed that potential evidence had been deleted in Spring 2002 from the hacked voicemail account of Milly Dowler, then missing, but later found to have been murdered.

"Fake sheikh"

Main article: Mazher Mahmood

Links to police corruption

The paper knowingly used private investigators to gain stories from corrupt police officers.

2006 reward for information

On 13 December 2006 the newspaper announced that it was offering up a record breaking reward of £250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders in Suffolk. The reward went unclaimed since the culprit, Steve Wright, was arrested on suspicion of murder on the 19th of the same month using unrelated information. He was later found guilty of murder and sentenced to life.

Famous stories reported by the News of the World

• Caroline Cossey the transsexual "Bond Girl" in For Your Eyes Only (1981)
• Roman Catholic Bishop Roderick Wright, who eloped with a parishioner. (1996)
• Prince Harry underage drinking and drugs (January 2002)
• Angus Deayton and his indiscretion with a prostitute while under the influence of cocaine (2002)
• David Beckham and Rebecca Loos (2004)
• Mark Oaten and his relationship with a male prostitute (January 2006)
• Max Mosley's private sado-masochistic sexual acts with five prostitutes (2008). The News of the World posted a secretly filmed video on their website, and alleged that it involved Nazi role-playing. Mosley took legal action, and the High Court ruled in July 2008 that the News of the World had breached Mosley's privacy and awarded him £60,000 in damages and £450,000 in legal fees. The judge also ruled that there was no basis for the allegations of Nazism. (See Max Mosley#News of the World allegations.)
• 14 time American Olympic Gold Medallist Michael Phelps smoking from a bong. (2009)
• Accusations that snooker star John Higgins had accepted bribes to throw frames in important snooker matches. (2010)
• Match fixing with the Pakistan cricket teams in the test series against England

Editors

1891: Emsley Carr

1941: David Percy Davies

1946: S. Skelton

1947: Arthur Waters

1953: Reg Cudlipp

1960: Stafford Somerfield

1970: Cyril Lear

1975: Bernard Shrimsley

1980: Barry Askew

1981: Derek Jameson

1984: Nicholas Lloyd

1985: David Montgomery

1987: Wendy Henry

1988: Patsy Chapman

1993: Stuart Higgins

1994: Piers Morgan

1995: Phil Hall

2000: Rebekah Wade

2003: Andy Coulson

2007: Colin Myler

Current editors

• Colin Myler (editor)
• Victoria Newton (deputy editor)
• Bill Akass (Managing Editor)
• Harry Scott (Senior Associate Editor)
• Jules Stenson (Assistant Editor, Features)
• Paul Ashton (Pictures Editor)
• David Wooding (Political Editor)
• Bob Bird - Scottish News of the World editor

Current journalists and writers

• Neville Thurlbeck (mainly responsible for the Beckham/ Loos story)
• Carole Aye Maung
• Amanda Evans
• James Weatherup
• Dominic Herbert
• Dan Sanderson
• Stephen Moyes
• Matt Drake
• Keith Gladdis
• Tina Campanella
• Alexandra McGowan
• Emma Barrow
• Kat Lay
• Douglas Wight
• Matthew Acton
• Jamie Lyons
• Carole Malone (columnist)
• Robert Jobson (Royal editor)
• David Wooding (Chief Political Editor)
• Daniel Jones (Consumer Editor)
• Jane Atkinson (Chief feature writer)
• Lucy Panton (Crime Editor)
• Dan Wootton (Showbiz editor)
• Tom Latchem (TV Editor)

See also

• News Corporation
• News Limited
• News International
• Rupert Murdoch
• Junk food news

External links

• Site
• How the 'Screws' screwed its rivals Tim Luckhurst, The Independent, 19 February 2006