News of the World

This article is about the British tabloid newspaper. For other uses, see News of the World (disambiguation).

News of the World
Front page of the final issue
TypeWeekly newspaper
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)News Group Newspapers
(News International)
EditorColin Myler
Founded1 October 1843 (1843-10-01)
Political alignmentConservative
Ceased publication10 July 2011 (2011-07-10)
HeadquartersWapping, London
Circulation2,606,397 (April 2011)[1]
Sister newspapersThe Sun,[2] The Times, The Sunday Times[3]
Websitenewsoftheworld.co.uk
(inactive, no longer updated)

The News of the World was a weekly national "red top" tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations.[4] It was originally established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies.[5] The Bells sold to Henry Lascelles Carr in 1891; in 1969, it was bought from the Carrs by Rupert Murdoch's media firm News Limited. In 1984, as News Limited reorganised into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, the newspaper transformed into a tabloid and became the Sunday sister paper of The Sun.

The News of the World concentrated in particular on celebrity scoops, gossip and populist news. Its somewhat prurient focus on sex scandals gained it the nickname Screws of the World.[6] In its last decade it had a reputation for exposing celebrities' drug use, sexual peccadilloes, or criminal acts, by using insiders and journalists in disguise to provide video or photographic evidence, and covert phone hacking in ongoing police investigations.[7][8] Sales averaged 2,812,005 copies per week in October 2010.[9]

From 2006, allegations of phone hacking began to engulf the newspaper. These culminated in the revelation on 4 July 2011 that, nearly a decade earlier, a private investigator hired by the newspaper had intercepted the voicemail of missing British teenager Milly Dowler, who was later found murdered.

Amid a public backlash and the withdrawal of advertising, News International announced the closure of the newspaper on 7 July 2011.[8][10] The scandal deepened when the paper was alleged to have hacked into the phones of families of British service personnel killed in action. Senior figures on the newspaper have been held for questioning by police investigating the phone hacking and corruption allegations, alongside former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan. Arrested on 8 July 2011 were former editor Andy Coulson and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, the latter jailed for phone hacking in 2007. The former executive editor Neil Wallis was arrested on 15 July 2011 and former editor Rebekah Brooks, the tenth person held in custody, on 17 July 2011.

During a visit to London on 17 February 2012, Murdoch announced he was soon to launch a Sunday edition of The Sun, which acted as a replacement to the News of the World. On 19 February 2012, it was announced that the first edition of The Sun on Sunday would be printed on 26 February 2012.[11] It would employ some former News of the World journalists.

  1. ^ Sweney, Mark (13 May 2011). "Sunday Express sales increase by 12.8%". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  2. ^ "Newspaper review: Papers focus on NoW hacking claims". BBC News. UK. 6 July 2011.
  3. ^ "News of the World fallout: Renault pull deals from all News International titles". Mirror. UK. 9 July 2011. Renault, which spent £343,829 with the Sunday paper last year, says it would not be advertising with sister publications such as The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.
  4. ^ Robinson, James (10 July 2011). "News of the World to close as Rupert Murdoch acts to limit fallout". The Guardian. UK. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  5. ^ Addley, Esther (7 July 2011). "The News of the World's sensational history", The Guardian (UK), Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  6. ^ "News of the World to close amid hacking scandal". News. UK: BBC. 7 July 2011.
  7. ^ Cohan, Peter (2011). "How Much Will 'News of The World' Closing Cost?". Forbes. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  8. ^ a b "News of the World Closed After Telephone Hacking Scandal". News. ABC. 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  9. ^ "News of the World Is No More". ABC News. 9 July 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  10. ^ Ross, Tim (5 July 2011). "News of the World loses adverts over Milly Dowler scandal". The Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  11. ^ "Sun on Sunday to launch next week". BBC News. 20 February 2012.