2. What happened?
The Phone Hacking Scandal was British journalists working for
Rupert Murdoch's News of the World and was accused of hiring
private detectives to hack illegally into the voice mails of
thousands of people, ranging from top politicians and celebrities
to murder victims and the families of fallen troops.
There were also claims that journalists bribed police to get private
details about people, including members of the royal family.
Warning the closure of the News of the World, forcing Britain's top
policeman to resigned, threatened Murdoch's control of his News
Corp. Media Empire, and raised serious questions about Prime
Minister David Cameron's judgment.
3. Why it happened?
By 2002, the practice of publications using private investigators to
obtain confidential information was well-known. Some individuals
used illegal methods to accomplish this. Victims of illegal phone
hacking included celebrities, politicians, law enforcement
officials, solicitors, and ordinary citizens.
As this illegal activity became obvious, suspects were arrested
and some were convicted of crimes. Some victims reserved
solicitors upon learning their privacy had been violated, and filed
suit against news media companies and their agents.
Some victims received financial payments for violation of
privacy. Successful suits and publicity from investigative news
articles led to further discoveries, including the names of more
victims, more documentary evidence of offense, admissions of
crime by news media agents, and payments potentially related
to the scandal.
4. News of the World Apologises
News of the World took full responsibility for what violation they
caused. At the time of News International's announcement, 24
individuals were in the process of taking legal action against the
News of the World on break of privacy grounds. Comic actor
Steve Coogan was reported to be one of the suspected victims
of phone hacking.
Hoppen blocked a further claim against the News of the World
and one of its reporters, Dan Evans, for "accessing or attempting
to access her voicemail messages between June 2009, and
March 2010". News International has not admitted obligation in
relation to the claim.
On 10 April, Tessa Jowell and David Mills, Andy Gray, Nicola
Phillips, and Kelly Hoppen all received the official apology and
compensation, but actor, Leslie Ash and John Prescott, who both
had also claimed opening of privacy, did not.
5. Criticism of News Internationally
The effect of the phone hacking scandal creating with the News of
the World also raised wider questions about the beliefs employed by
companies under Murdoch's ownership, as well as the effects the
scandal will have on the ethics employed specifically by print
journalists and to some extent the wider world of journalism.
Murdoch had previously been criticised for building a media empire
that lacked any ethical base and replacing responsible journalism
with “Gossip, sensationalism, and manufactured controversy“.
Karl Grossman, a professor of journalism at State University of New
York at Old Westbury, accused Murdoch of building the most
“Dishonest, unprincipled and corrupt media empire in history and of
making a travesty of what journalism is supposed to be about."
6. My Opinion
I believe that it was a major violation of privacy. It is hard to
understand why they did it to start with, however, with their
apologetic letter; they took responsibility for what disruption they
caused. On the other hand, their reasons for the Phone Hacking
Scandal were selfish and unnecessary. The story of Millie Dowla was
a clear example of News of the World’s selfish reaction to a murder
story. With them hacking Millie’s phone, deleting her texts, this then
convinced the police she was alive and missing rather than dead
because her phone had activity. The News of the World did this so
that they had a story for the front page. There are no good reasons
for any phone hacking within the newspaper industry.
