Nullary Sources

Patrick Wintour, Dan Sabbagh, and Nicholas Watt for The Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch capitulated to parliament and abandoned News Corporation’s £8bn bid for BSkyB, as he faced the prospect of appearing in front of a judicial public inquiry to salvage his personal reputation and the right for his company to continue to broadcast in the UK.

After 10 days of sustained public outcry over phone hacking, and facing the prospect of a unanimous call by MPs to withdraw his bid for total ownership of the satellite broadcaster, Murdoch succumbed at a morning board meeting at his London HQ in Wapping.

Company insiders indicated Murdoch was not making a tactical retreat and that a future bid for total control of BSkyB was now unlikely. The media giant said it was likely to “deploy our capital elsewhere” to avoid any more damaging battles in the UK. The News Corp deputy chairman, Chase Carey, said the bid had become “too difficult to progress in this climate”.

People had been speculating that the shuttering of the News of the World was a move designed to help the British Sky Broadcasting deal go through, so if that was really the case, it appears it didn’t work.

James Robinson of The Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch acted with characteristic ruthlessness by closing theNews of the World, Britain’s best-selling Sunday newspaper, in a desperate attempt to limit the political and commercial fallout from the phone-hacking affair engulfing his media empire.

Murdoch’s son James, who runs his UK titles, told the paper’s 200 staff that Sunday’s edition of the paper, which sells 2.6m copies a week, would be its last, ending the 168-year history of the title his father bought in 1969, a purchase that introduced him to the British public for the first time. The last News of the World will carry no commercial advertising.

…

Mark Lewis, the solicitor for Milly Dowler’s family, said: “People are losing their jobs in order to sacrifice themselves to save the real perpetrators … lots of good individuals have lost their jobs or will lose their jobs and the people who should have fallen on their swords are still there.”

On the one hand, I’m glad there’s action happening. On the other hand, sacking the entire company over the sins of an unidentified number of them doesn’t seem right at all.

The British justice system is getting involved in a way that doesn’t involve taking bribes, which is good. Amelia Hill in another piece for The Guardian:

Andy Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested on Friday morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the News of the World.

The Guardian understands that a second arrest is also to be made in the next few days of a former senior journalist at the paper.

…

Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron’s director of communications in January, was contacted on Thursday by detectives and asked to present himself at a police station in central London on Friday, where he will be told that he will be formally questioned under suspicion of involvement in hacking.

Nothing yet appears to be happening to Rebekah Brooks, who was an editor of News of the World while this was going down and is now an executive of Murdoch’s News International.

And here’s some fodder for the paranoia file from MSNBC and the AP:

Media analysts said the decision to close the newspaper appears to be a strategy to smooth the way for Murdoch’s plan to buy the 60 percent or so of British Sky Broadcasting that his media empire does not already own. The U.K. government is expected to make its final decision on the proposed deal by September.

Gregory Katz of the AP wrote this piece which should be titled “Entire world shocked at hacking into slain girl’s phone”:

Britain’s voracious tabloids may have hit a new low: The News of the World was facing claims Tuesday that it hacked into a missing 13-year-old’s phone messages, possibly hampering a police inquiry into her disappearance.

Milly Dowler was found murdered months later, and the report that her messages were tampered with has horrified Britons. Major advertisers – including Ford UK – have pulled their ads from the paper.

…

While police were pursuing all leads and Milly’s parents were making dramatic appeals for information, a private investigator working for the News of the World allegedly hacked into her cell phone, listened to her messages and deleted some to make room for possible new ones.

Mark Lewis, a lawyer representing Milly’s parents, said Tuesday the suspected hacking may have hampered the police investigation and he plans to sue the tabloid for its interference.

It was never determined how long the teen was alive after being abducted but the tabloid’s actions reportedly came soon after her disappearance. Police realized some messages had been deleted, giving them and Milly’s parents false hope that she was still alive.

Katz and other AP writers Robert Barr, Danica Kirka, Meera Selva, David Stringer, and Cassandra Vinograd filed a follow-up report today:

The scandal, which has already touched the office of Prime Minister David Cameron, widened as the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were investigating evidence from News International that the tabloid made illegal payments to police officers in its quest for information.

The list of potential victims also grew. Revelations emerged Wednesday that the phones of relatives of people killed in the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks on London’s transit system, as well as those tied to two more slain schoolgirls, may also have been targeted.

The true extent of the hacking is not yet clear — and may not be known for months as inquiries unfold.

Graham Foulkes, whose 22-year-old son David died in the 2005 terrorist attacks, was told by police that he was on a list of potential hacking victims.

Doucheguzzling shitmongers.

This is nice, though:

Virgin Holidays canceled several ads due to run in the Sunday newspaper this week. Car makers Ford UK and Vauxhall and Halifax bank also said they have suspended advertising.