The British tabloid the News of the World was first published in 1843 as a three pence (cheap!) paper aimed at the newly literate working class.  Come Sunday, July 10, 2010, the News of the World shall run its last edition. 

The News of the World earned a reputation as a splashy weekly featuring sensationalist scoops, sex scandals, and celebrity gossip.

The phone-hacking scandal in which journalists from NotW tampered with a private voicemail box belonging to the late Amanda "Milly" Dowler.  Dowler was 13 years old when she was murdered in 2002.  A private investigator working for the paper was also involved.  The hackers deleted a few of Dowler's messages in order to free up space for new messages.  Their activities gave the Dowler family, who had been tracking Milly's messages since the girl went missing, false hope she was still alive.  Dowler's distressed parents announced via solicitor they would sue The News of the World. 

Serial murderer Levi Bellfield was convicted on 6/23/11 of murdering Dowler.

The threat of the suit and the consequent media frenzy was the final straw for the struggling tabloid.  James Murdoch, chairman of News International, News of the World's parent company, called the hacking "inhuman."  Murdoch announced the paper would stop publishing after Sunday.

NotW targeted families of the 7/07/05 London terrorist bombings with similar phone-hacking tactics, Scotland Yard says.

Publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch bought NotW in 1969.  The paper's circulation had been on a steady decline ever since, though it rallied briefly in the early 1980s when the publishers switched from broadsheet to tabloid format and launched "Sunday" magazine.

168 years is a long time.  Queen Victoria was 24 years old when NotW was first printed. The commercial potential of the name "News of the World" will see it on the front page of another newspaper in due course, I suppose.

Also required reading:  Voicemail hack scandal not only shuts down NOTW, but workers at The Sun walked out in protest.

Not a Brit, so I don't fully grok the political impact, but there are links between the current UK political situation and the folks behind NOTW, and as far as I can tell from here, they're also not very pretty.  But they are pretty lulzy.  I'd encourage the casual reader to dig into this story; I think it's got legs.

Rupert Murdoch is expected to arrive in London later to take charge of dealing with the phone-hacking crisis that has engulfed his News International group.

Sounds like an opening for The National Enquirer to further penetrate the British market.  :P

http://www.uncoverage.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/68444-246x300.jpg

Sounds like an opening for The National Enquirer to further penetrate the British market.  :P

http://www.uncoverage.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/68444-246x300.jpg
The National Enquirer is already available over here.

The National Enquirer is already available over here.


Yep.  Now's their chance to take the market lead.  Are The Star or The Globe published in Mother England too? ???

Yep.  Now's their chance to take the market lead.  Are The Star or The Globe published in Mother England too? ???
We do have The Daily Star as a weekly newspaper, it is expected that the News of the World will re-emerge as The Sun on Sunday, of which The Sun is the sister weekly newspaper.

A seller on eBay has already sold two of the ten copies on offer on the online auction site - priced at £5.50 each. It's normal cover price is £1.

Final edition of the News of the World is headlined Thank You & Goodbye

I first heard of NotW in a song by The Smiths:

"In a river the colour of lead/
Immerse the baby's head/
Wrap her up in the News of the World/
Dump her on a doorstep, girl..."

-- This Night Has Opened My Eyes (1983)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTbPnOZYxl8

Final edition of the News of the World is headlined Thank You & Goodbye

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2b/Notw_last2.jpg/220px-Notw_last2.jpg

It's mayhem on eBay, people are selling copies of the final edition online.

I bought one once.  I was waiting for the train in Manchester.  I remember stopping in the newsagent's for a ginger beer, a Double Decker bar, and a News on the World.  Next time, I got The Sun for Page Three!
;)