News of the World closes, hacking victim speaks out

Story from The Takeaway. Use audio player above to listen to full report.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch will close Britain’s most popular newspaper, The News of the World, in a bid to prevent outrage over the tabloid’s phone hacking scandal from infecting the other news outlets he owns.

British detectives investigating the illegal phone hacking conducted by the newspaper’s staff say the number of victims could exceed 4,000. News of the World journalists hacked the private phones of celebrities, crime victims, bereaved military families and people involved in the 2005 London bombings — a terrorist attack that killed 52 people.

Paul Dadge was present at the London bombings. A striking photograph of him helping a woman burnt in the blast was become one of the most iconic images from the attack. On The Takeaway, he explained how this week he was notified by police that his messages may have been hacked.

Murdoch is chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, which counts FOX and The Wall Street Journal among its $60 billion of assets. Murdoch is currently planning to spend $12.5 billion to purchase BSkyB, Britain’s biggest pay-TV operator. Brian Stelter, media correspondent for The New York Times, talked to The Takeaway about how the closure of The News of the World may impact the rest of the News Corp. empire.

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