The Olds of the World

It's all bloody kicking off in the press at the moment. If you haven't been keeping up with things or have been living in the belly of a whale since 2005, then I'll fill you in. Turns out, the News of the World spoiled things for themselves by listening in to the phone calls and voicemails of celebrities. And it turns out that noone really cares. Even when the celebrity in question played a bumbling prime minister with a thing for Tiffany off Eastenders.

What's one thing that always grabs people's attention (a valuable tool the NOTW have never been afraid to exploit)? Horrible crimes committed against young girls. Just as much as we didn't care that Hugh Grant had his voicemails listened to, the NOTW didn't care about the on-going investigation into the kidnap and murder of Milly Dowler. They listened to messages, deleted them and played all kinds of havoc with the emotions of her family and the police investigation.

All of a sudden, everyone cared. The nation cried out in unison,  a cry of "HOLD ON ONE ARSING MINUTE"

I've always been a firm believer that the tabloids will do anything for a story and don't tend to worry about the scruple shaped hole in their front doors. This sort of behaviour did not come as a surprise to me but it seemed to take alot of people by surprise. News Corp (who owned NOTW) are in the middle of trying to buy out the rest of BSkyB, and to do so have to prove they are fit and proper to broadcast telly. To convince people they are (they aren't) they shut the News of the World. The newspaper that has been open for 168 years. I'm not going to miss it. But some people will.

You know who no one gives a shit about? Rebekah Brooks. Yet she has been saved at the expense of everyone who worked at the NOTW, she is still in her highly paid job at Rupert Murdoch's side. Is this right? Is this the end of it? I hope not.

The best solution I can see is to subject the written press to the same regulation as the BBC and other broadcasters. Broadcast Journalism still provides scoops (as Jon Snow proved by scooping the NOTW) and still provides fascinating content. Why can't the newspapers?

Because they've been getting away with not having to try for too long.