News of the World Scandal Worsens

Les Hinton

It looks a bit like Rupert Murdoch is sticking by his staff and leaving it up to them to decide whether or not to jump ship. First Rebekah Brooks resigned and now Les Hinton, his most faithful lieutenant has gone too. Murdoch brought Hinton over to America from the UK in 2007 just after he purchased Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and he’s held high-level positions within News Corp – head of Fox television and the American newspaper division. Hinton started work as a teenager checking copy at Murdoch's first paper in Adelaide and has been his faithful employee for 50 years.

Murdoch seems determined to set things right – he’s published an apologetic note in all British newspapers and has visited the family of Milly Dowler. Lawyer for the Dowler family said he was “very humbled, he was very shaken and he was very sincere.”

Andy Coulson

Closing down The News of the World was an unexpected, drastic step and two hundred staff who now find themselves out of a job are understandably angry. Yesterday they questioned why Ms. Brooks had not resigned earlier. “Our paper was sacrificed to save her career, and now she’s gone as well,” one former employee said “Who knows why they’ve chosen to do it now, as she’ll have to appear before the select committee anyway.”

Nine people have been arrested so far, including Andy Coulson, a former close associate of Ms. Brooks and once a senior aide to Prime Minister Cameron. Coulson denies that he “actively encouraged” reporters to illegally intercept voicemail messages while he was editor of News of the World.

Now the focus has shifted to police involvement in the scandal and Sir Paul Stephenson, head of London’s Metropolitan Police, has been asked to resign. One gets the impression that many more heads are ready to roll.