End of an era - or start of a fightback?

Sunday, 10 July 2011 10:25 AM

By Alex Stevenson Follow @alex__stevenson

Rupert Murdoch is arriving in Britain in a bid to take control of the phone-hacking crisis, as Britain bids farewell to the News of the World.

'The world's greatest newspaper', as it called itself on its final ever front page, has doubled the normal print run for its final edition on sale today. Its headline reads simply: "Thank you and goodbye."

Mr Murdoch has sacrificed the 168-year-old newspaper in a bid to rescue News International's other three national newspapers - the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

Isolating the News of the World by closing it may not have been enough to defuse the explosive public mood after a week of shocking revelations about journalists hacking into the phones of murder victims and fallen soldiers, however.

There are signs that the phone-hacking contagion could be spreading, as car manufacturing firm Renault became the first to withdraw its advertising across all News International brands.

The Church of England is threatening to sell its £4 million shares in News Corporation over what it has deemed "utterly reprehensible and unethical" behaviour, the Observer reported. It has indicated it views the News of the World's closure as insufficient.

Mr Murdoch will hold meetings with senior News International executives including Rebekah Brooks, who continues to face huge pressure to resign. She has been bolstered by the support of her boss, however.

"I'm not throwing innocent people under a bus," he said yesterday.

Ms Brooks is expected to be questioned by police this week, according to reports.

Among the difficult decisions Mr Murdoch will face is whether to launch a replacement for the News of the World, whose staff defiantly faced the cameras yesterday evening after finishing work for the last time.

Proceeds from today's final issue are being donated to charity "as a small step on the long road to making amends", a page three editorial explained.

"We praised high standards, we demanded high standards but, as we are now only too painfully aware, for a period of a few years up to 2006 some who worked for us, or in our name, fell shamefully short of those standards," the paper said.

"Quite simply, we lost our way.

"Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry."

The Metropolitan police is pressing ahead with Operation Weeting, its investigation into the phone-hacking allegations which have rocked Britain in the last week.

Three men have been arrested and bailed until October: David Cameron's former communications director Andy Coulson, 43; former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, 53; and a 63-year-old man arrested early on Saturday morning at a Surrey home.

Scotland Yard's assistant commissioner John Yates has acknowledged his decision not to reopen the investigation in phone-hacking when allegations resurfaced in 2009 looked a "pretty crap one".

"We are all extremely shocked by it and it is a matter of massive regret we didn't deal with it earlier," he told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"My byword has always been you look after the victims and the job will always resolve itself. I always put the victim first but here I didn't follow my principle and that is my greatest regret."

The state of News International's bid to become the owner of BSkyB is also likely to be assessed by Mr Murdoch.

The odds of the deal succeeding in the face of huge public opposition have already lengthened, after regulator Ofcom said its success could rest on whether it deems Mr Murdoch a "fit and proper" person to own the company.

Last night Labour indicated the opposition would force a vote on the BSkyB takeover bid in the Commons next week.

The vote, seeking a suspension of the bid, will force Westminster to focus its mind on an issue many government MPs would rather avoid.

"Now that Rupert Murdoch has flown in to London from his American home, he will have realised what a deep crisis his company is in," Labour backbencher Tom Watson wrote in the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

"And this time there will be no cosy dinners at Downing Street. David Cameron daren't be seen in public with him any more. Murdoch is on his own and no amount of political influence will get him out of this mess.

"He will pay a high price for what his empire did to Milly Dowler and her family. The people of Britain will not forget or forgive."

Milly's sister and mother will meet deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in Downing Street tomorrow, in talks organised by the Media Standards Trust charity.

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• journalism
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• phone hacking