Tag Archives: News of the World

August 8, 2011, 10:49 pm

Incomprehension

Watching video of the London riots, skimming the newspaper commentary and bloggery, I get shivers. Not only because of the awful destruction, not only because the difficulty of establishing facts, not only because everyone is stunned by the sheer scale of the violence, not only because some cops are racist, not only because so many people like thuggery and looting and burning and throwing things at cops—that’s “like” as in “thrill to,” “feel like taking part in,” not as in Facebook “like”—not only because nihilism is as much fun as cruelty and as cruel as it is fun, but because of the vast cloud of incomprehension that surrounds the events—an incomprehension that seems to match Americans’ incomprehension in 1965 (Watts), 1967 (Newark, Detroit)…1992 (L. A.).

At least it’s my impression that now, as then, much of the commentary consists of nothing more than rage, fear, and…

July 16, 2011, 8:39 pm

Follow-Up News of the World: A Little Close Reading

By Todd Gitlin

In his resignation statement on Friday, Wall Street Journal publisher, Dow Jones CEO, and 52-year (no typo) Rupert Murdoch employee Les Hinton, who before moving to New York was executive chairman of News International (which published the late News of the World), said:

When I left News International in December 2007, I believed that the rotten element at the News of the World had been eliminated; that important lessons had been learned; and that journalistic integrity was restored. My testimonies before the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee were given honestly. When I appeared before the Committee in March 2007, I expressed the belief that Clive Goodman [convicted of hacking into royal voicemail] had acted alone, but made clear our investigation was continuing. In September 2009, I told the Committee there had never been any evidence delivered to me that suggested the conduct…