Monday, Jan. 2, 2012
THEN
Jan. 2, 1969, following an intense bid battle with Robert Maxwell’s Pergamon Press, lasting nearly a year, 37-year-old Australian media owner Rupert Murdoch’s offer to acquire London-based newspaper News of the World is approved by the company’s shareholders. News of the World has been in publication for 126 years and is seen as a media powerhouse with, at one time, the largest circulation on the planet. Under Murdoch, the newspaper undergoes significant changes in content and style incorporating a more sensational approach to journalism that increases circulation, but is considered controversial by some in the British media industry.
NOW
Today, News of the World is no longer. Its doors officially closed for the last time on July 10, 2011, after a phone hacking and bribery scandal that brought down the long-standing media entity. The investigation into allegations of phone hacking and bribery at the newspaper have gone to the highest level, bringing both Rupert Murdoch and son James before the British Parliament to testify. The inquiry focused on the owners’ knowledge of the newspaper’s illegal practices. So far at least 10 people have been brought into custody in the scandal including several former senior editors.
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