So farewell then News of The World, Britains longest running Sunday paper, once the darling of the News International stable, bought by Rupert Murdoch as a cash cow and now despatched apparently without a second thought as a toxic asset. The last issue will run this Sunday without any advertisments, space being given over to charities, and all monies being given to charities. And so ends a once great British establishment, brought down by the actions of a management structure that was focused solely on selling newspapers with no regard for ethics or morals. Whatever it took to get the story, no questions asked. There are one or two loose ends though....
The management structure that had allowed these nefarious practices had already been dealt with we are told, and the tactics that caused this problem had been stopped, so in essence what has been done is to punish 200 staff for the wrongdoing of an earlier era. Further, it is highly unlikely that the gap left in the marketplace will remain unfilled, how long before we have a Sizzling, Soaraway, Sunday Sun? Then there is the issue of corporate responsibility, has this move been made simply to remove the need to investigate further within the upper echelons of the group? What of the leadership structure that allowed this to happen?
It would be nice to think that this whole situation would have long term implications for the media industry, but one can't help but think that this is a soft option, taken to avoid the worst of the coming storm....we will have to wait and see....
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