The News of The World
The News of the World is a UK-based tabloid newspaper published by News International.
Contents
History
The News of The World is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s organisation News International.
Rupert Murdoch moved production of the newspaper away from its traditional home in Fleet Street to new premises in Wapping East London in 1986. The move was designed to modernise production practices, reduce costs and perhaps more importantly remove the influence of the powerful Fleet Street print unions. According to journalist Nick Davies the move to Wapping "Released a chain reaction of internal changes which have had a devastating effect on truth-telling journalism". [1]
Controversy
Tommy Sheridan
Prominent Socialist politician and activist Tommy Sheridan won £200,000 in damages after suing the News of the World for libel in August 2006[2].Bob Bird the Scottish editor of the News of the World appealed against the verdict arguing that "eighteen independent witnesses came to this court and committed monstrous acts of perjury"[3]. The News of The World appeal has been suspended pending the result of a perjury trial against Tommy Sheridan and his wife Gail which is due to start in January 2010.
Media monopoly
MPs protested against Murdoch's acquisition of The Times and The Sunday Times because of the effect a media monopoly could have on democracy in the United Kingdom. This was because Murdoch already owned The Sun and The News of The World. A report by the Labour Government in 2001 said, "A healthy democracy depends on a culture of dissent and argument, which would inevitably be diminished if there were only a limited number of providers of news"[4].
The main concern with Rupert Murdoch's media monopoly is that he could use it to manipulate public opinion and therefore put pressure on politicians who oppose his business interests. In October 2003 in the United States a study by the nonpartisan Program on International Policy Attitudes showed that 60% of U.S. citizens believed either that: clear evidence had been found of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda; W.M.D. had been found in Iraq; world public opinion favored the U.S. going to war with Iraq. 80% of the people who believed these falsehoods received their news primarily from Rupert Murdoch's Fox News.
The media interests of News International in the United Kingdom include:
- BSkyB (39% Stake)
- The Sun
- The Sun
- The Sun
- The News of The World
- The London Paper
- Harper Collins (Publishing house)
In the United States Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp owns:
Journalists
A-L
M-Z
ABC and readership figures
References
- ↑ Nick Davies, Flat Earth News (2008), London: Chatto & Windus
- ↑ BBC News, Sheridan victory in court battle, BBC News, 4-August-2006, Accessed 17-July-2009
- ↑ BBC News, Sheridan victory in court battle, BBC News, 4-August-2006, Accessed 17-July-2009
- ↑ Department for Culture Media and Sport,Media Ownership Rules, November-2001, Accessed 19-January-2009
- ↑ Richard Wray, Murdoch faces scrutiny over media influence, 25-May-2007, Accessed 19-January-2009
