Demise of the NoTW

[Grayson]

The trouble with lefty mugs is that they are so blinkered, they only ever see what they want to see.

Is MK ever allowed to post his opinion without being called a lefty mug? It's pathetic, and not even relevant in this case.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Not taking the moral high ground, just pointing out that you only see that bad. Even now, you chose to ignore the Sarah's Law part of my post, the most significant move forward in protecting children from paedophiles in this country ever, mainly thanks to the NOTW.

I didn't ignore it, I stated that it was over 10 years ago. If it saved one kid, then fair enough, good work NoTW.

 

[Gremlin]

The Profumo affair.
Great train robbery
Jeffrey Archer
Jamie Bulger murder
Princess Margaret Love letters
Hughie Green/Paula Yates
Paedophiles named and shamed

Along with some people who weren't paedophiles but happened to have the same name and lived close to where a paedophile was last known to be. Some of these people had their homes attacked by the NOTW-reading intelligentsia and were forced to relocate. Still, as it didn't affect you, it was probably a price worth paying (by them).

 

[milhouse]

Just a thought: With Rebecca Brooks warning of "worse things to come", could there be some NI scandal that brings down the Government? After all, thinking of something worse than hacking into dead kids phones is a tough ask.

I really doubt it. However, Coulson might want to consider ensuring that he has soap on the rope at the ready. His defence to a charge, if there is one, will be that he is totally incompetent and had no control over the paper he was editing. That must be what he said to Cameron too, which makes you wonder.

Ditto Brooks. God knows what she's got on the family that they can't let go of her.

Bit of free advice to Rebekah: if invited to go on a yachting break with the Murdochs do not, repeat DO NOT go.

 

[Thorpe Groyney]

On the other side of the coin, and just of the top of my head, libel actions have been taken out against the paper in the past 5 or 6 years by:

David Beckham (settled out of court)
Wayne Rooney (successful)
Ashley Cole (successful)
Max Moseley (successful)
Norwich City FC (successful)
Artur Boruc (successful)

All bar Norwich City (of course) were to do with their private lives which, even if what they were wrongly alleged to have done were true, would have no impact on or significance to the general public.

It doesn't say much when you can come up with a list like that without even thinking. I dare say a google search would bring up a few more.

Not quite the moral crusaders that maybe one or two people on this thread are trying to make out. It won't be missed.

 

[canveyshrimper]

The Profumo affair.
Great train robbery
Jeffrey Archer
Jamie Bulger murder
Princess Margaret Love letters
Hughie Green/Paula Yates
Paedophiles named and shamed


All these were reported first by the NOTW

The paedophiles being named and their locations was fantastic, caused masses of uproar and if it saves little kids being abused then that's brilliant journalism. They broke the law in doing so, but the result was brilliant, helped change the law in this country, you know about Sarah's Law don't you.


The trouble with lefty mugs is that they are so blinkered, they only ever see what they want to see.

It's possible I'm being a touch dense here, but are you saying the NOTW were responsible for catching the Great Train Robbers, Venables & Thompson? IIRC the Mirror or The People was the paper responsible for uncovering the Profumo scandal. And as Gremlin has pointed out the exposing of paedophiles has also led to professions such as paedotricians being demonised because of the abbreviation of the word to paedo.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

It's possible I'm being a touch dense here, but are you saying the NOTW were responsible for catching the Great Train Robbers, Venables & Thompson? IIRC the Mirror or The People was the paper responsible for uncovering the Profumo scandal. And as Gremlin has pointed out the exposing of paedophiles has also led to professions such as paedotricians being demonised because of the abbreviation of the word to paedo.

Think it was The People.Not that I'm old enough to remember of course.:winking:

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

The Profumo affair.
Great train robbery
Jeffrey Archer
Jamie Bulger murder
Princess Margaret Love letters
Hughie Green/Paula Yates
Paedophiles named and shamed


All these were reported first by the NOTW

The paedophiles being named and their locations was fantastic, caused masses of uproar and if it saves little kids being abused then that's brilliant journalism. They broke the law in doing so, but the result was brilliant, helped change the law in this country, you know about Sarah's Law don't you.


The trouble with lefty mugs is that they are so blinkered, they only ever see what they want to see.

Ah yes, I remember this. A great example of mob culture ensued, including the harassment of a paediatrician purely because his job started with paed!

Make you proud doesn't it?


I'm actually in agreement with the "lefty mugs" on a lot of this, though do think the closure of NOTW is irrelevant as there'll be a Sunday Sun very soon (I've even found myself agreeing with Prescott recently! Scary times)

 

[Winkle]

Having worked for "Today" and other titles in the "N.I group for 22 yrs, I like others was shocked at the closing of the N.O.T.W. It has/and will allways have its place in the market (like it or loathe it) and from its circulation figures, 2/3 million people went out and purchased one every Sunday. As an employer N.I is up there with the best, who looked after there staff tremendously and demand loyalty which is why they produce a very good product. Personally for me , the "Paper" itself has lost its way and struggled to encapulate the great sporting coups and (proper) jounalistic stories that made it popular before the terrible dealings of "Hacking" and unscrupulous back handed payments to third parties. Alot of good people and "Jounalists" who had nothing to do with the hacking scandal are Know jobless along with production and advertising staff. I am sure this will not be the end of the matter and the demise and closure of what once was a very good newspaper will not interupt "Mr Murdochs" pursuit of the bigger prize that awaits him....be under no illusions!

 

[please delete my account]

Hey Chaps,

I won't miss the NotW . I always thought that it was rather cheap and aimed more at the riff raff and ne'er do wells of society. Definitely not at someone of my standing, I prefer more highbrow, classier reading material.

In any case, the internet is the way forward, not newspapers. With this in mind, feel free to visit my new website, link below.

Kind Regards

www.watchmepoo.co.uk

 

[Firestorm]

One thing, where the journalists that hacked the phones etc employed by NOTW or freelance?

Thet were not even journalists, they were private investigators

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Everything you've reported as high journalistic value (Princess Margaret love letter? Really?) was over ten years ago if not more.

Nonsense. The Pakistani cricket betting scandal was one of the biggest stories of last summer - on the front and back pages - and was broken entirely by the NoW. NoW and their Fake Sheikh (aka Maz Mahmood) got some pretty darn good stories.

It is a loss to Fleet St, and no mistake.

 

[MK Shrimper]

It is a loss to Fleet St, and no mistake.

Amazed by your stance on this. A loss to Fleet Street? No it isn't, it's a tatty, shoddy piece of trash that for every decent story, you can name a 100 Z-List pointless celebrity tittletattle rubbish.

 

[pickledseal]

Billy's new song.... "Never Buy The Sun"

[video=youtube;Hk2MAYPcCGI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk2MAYPcCGI[/video]

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Amazed by your stance on this. A loss to Fleet Street? No it isn't, it's a tatty, shoddy piece of trash that for every decent story, you can name a 100 Z-List pointless celebrity tittletattle rubbish.

You appear to be confusing it with the Daily Star. Of course the Screws had more than its fair share of pointless celebrity tittle-tattle stories - there is clearly a sizeable market for such stuff out there. But amongst the trash, there was also a fair amount of decent journalism out there:

* Pakistani cricket corruption
* Dallaglio drugs shame
* Ricky Hatton drugs shame
* John Leslie drigs shame (a recurring theme!)
* Sarah Ferguson "selling" access to Prince Andrew
* Prince Harry's Nazi costume / drugs stuff
* Rooney / hookers
* Faria Alam and all the nonsense at the FA

...all of the above were serious news stories, but also stories that are really properly done only by the Red Tops. You have to take the Red Tops as you find them, along with their stupid trashy sleb stuff, and their slightly iffy politics. If it weren't for the Red Tops, Fleet St would be very dull indeed; one need only look over the channel to see how a press dominated by "weighty" tomes is, actually, a poorer and duller press for it. Chief amongst the Red Tops - and the breaker of all those stories - was the Screws. I therefore absolutely stand by the comment that Fleet St is the poorer for its demise.

Let's not fool ourselves that it has been sacrificed because its position following the hacking stories was no longer tenable. Almost all of the journalists, editors and investigators involved in that practice are no longer with the paper; half of Fleet St was involved in the practice anyway; and the notion that those near the top (if not the very top - the concept of plausible deniability isn't merely restricted to government) didn't know what was going on has been very seriously undermined with the arrest of Coulson - the paper's editor. The Screws has been chopped because Murdoch (a) wanted to insulate Brooks if he can (heavens only knows what she's got on him); and (b) far more importantly, doesn't want this to affect his attempt to take over BSkyB.

Time will tell whether he'll succeed in that aim. My guess is he will.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Well we'll have to agree to disagree Matt - slebs taking drugs and Premiership footballers cheating on their wives - it's hardly Woodward and Bernstien is it?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

You appear to be confusing it with the Daily Star. Of course the Screws had more than its fair share of pointless celebrity tittle-tattle stories - there is clearly a sizeable market for such stuff out there. But amongst the trash, there was also a fair amount of decent journalism out there:

* Pakistani cricket corruption
* Dallaglio drugs shame
* Ricky Hatton drugs shame
* John Leslie drigs shame (a recurring theme!)
* Sarah Ferguson "selling" access to Prince Andrew
* Prince Harry's Nazi costume / drugs stuff
* Rooney / hookers
* Faria Alam and all the nonsense at the FA

...all of the above were serious news stories, but also stories that are really properly done only by the Red Tops. You have to take the Red Tops as you find them, along with their stupid trashy sleb stuff, and their slightly iffy politics. If it weren't for the Red Tops, Fleet St would be very dull indeed; one need only look over the channel to see how a press dominated by "weighty" tomes is, actually, a poorer and duller press for it. Chief amongst the Red Tops - and the breaker of all those stories - was the Screws. I therefore absolutely stand by the comment that Fleet St is the poorer for its demise.

Let's not fool ourselves that it has been sacrificed because its position following the hacking stories was no longer tenable. Almost all of the journalists, editors and investigators involved in that practice are no longer with the paper; half of Fleet St was involved in the practice anyway; and the notion that those near the top (if not the very top - the concept of plausible deniability isn't merely restricted to government) didn't know what was going on has been very seriously undermined with the arrest of Coulson - the paper's editor. The Screws has been chopped because Murdoch (a) wanted to insulate Brooks if he can (heavens only knows what she's got on him); and (b) far more importantly, doesn't want this to affect his attempt to take over BSkyB.

Time will tell whether he'll succeed in that aim. My guess is he will.

Pakistan cricket corruption, absolutely. That is MK's Bernstein and Woodward stuff.

Fergie selling access to Prince Andrew, yes although I don't particularly care about that and maybe the stuff going on at the FA. But the rest wasn't serious news and it's a damning indictment of them that you have to flag them up as success stories for the Screws. Instead of pouring money into glamourising drugs and prostitution (which is what funding an entire industry of slappers sleeping with footballers and selling their story is) where were they on big news stories like MPs' expenses, the dodgy dossier, Bernie Ecclestone bribing the Labour party, phone-tapping etc? These are genuine news stories that even the red tops don't ignore, but the Screws followed, they didn't lead despite being better resourced than most of their rivals which should have given them a headstart on them.

 

[tottenham541]

some idiots are asking for £100k for their news of the world at the moment, most are going for around £12 on e-bay right now, what a joke.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

I'd better get mine on ebay quick :winking:

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Instead of pouring money into glamourising drugs and prostitution (which is what funding an entire industry of slappers sleeping with footballers and selling their story is) where were they on big news stories like MPs' expenses, the dodgy dossier, Bernie Ecclestone bribing the Labour party, phone-tapping etc?

Well, they probably weren't ideally placed to run stories on phone-tapping. Glass houses and all that...

You're also being too sentimental about the red-tops' role in life. The Mirror did exactly what you suggest - Piers Morgan very deliberately chose to ran a more "serious" editorial line than most of his counterparts, and ran far more stories about serious topics like the war in Iraq, MP corruption and so on. And the Mirror's circulation nose-dived.

The Red Tops have to tread a delicate line between sufficient tittle-tattle (for circulation purposes) and serious journalism. The Screws trod that line better than most of its other competitors (Sun - certainly an internal competitor - People, Mirror and Star).

If you're looking for damning indictments, look no further than the British public, which saw the Star's circulation almost double after Desmond chose a deliberate editorial policy to dumb down, go for more stories about t*ts, Jordan, and Big Brother, and who aimed squarely for the market that lay between the Daily Sport and The Sun (and who knew that such a market existed?!).

Incidentally, the Rooney/hookers story is absolutely news-worthy, whilst he and his wife continue to attempt to trade on - and make money out of - their supposed wholesome family image. Ditto Giggs. The story about Haton was, perhaps, less news-worthy, given that I'm not sure that Ricky has ever pretended (not that he had any obligation to) or sought to make money out of a particular public image.