Support 100 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
  2. Media
4 July 2011

A new low for the News of the World

The revelation that the tabloid hacked Milly Dowler's phone could be a tipping point in the scandal.

By George Eaton

The grim news that Milly Dowler’s phone was hacked by the News of the World could be a tipping point in the phone hacking scandal. It represents a new low for the tabloid and gives the lie to the claim that only publicity hungry celebrities were targeted.

Not only did private investigators illegally hack Dowler’s voice mail, they subsequently deleted messages left on her phone (in order to access more), leading her family to mistakenly believe that she was still alive. As the Guardian notes:

[W]hen her friends and family called again and discovered that her voicemail had been cleared, they concluded that this must have been done by Milly herself and, therefore, that she must still be alive. But she was not. The interference created false hope and extra agony for those who were misled by it.

The tabloid also stands accused of interfering with the course of a police investigation by destroying potentially valuable evidence. Remarkably, Surrey Police chose not to take action against the NoW because this was only “one example of tabloid misbehaviour”.

Select and enter your email address Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. A weekly newsletter helping you fit together the pieces of the global economic slowdown. The New Statesman’s global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. Your guide to the best writing across politics, ideas, books and culture - both in the New Statesman and from elsewhere - sent each Saturday. A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.

Even Chris Morris couldn’t do justice to the fact that all of this coincided with the tabloid’s campaign against paedophiles.

It’s quite possible that we’ll now see a Liverpool-style boycott of the paper across the country. In addition, more will question the government’s decision to waive through Murdoch’s takeover of BSkyB. As the shadow culture secretary, Ivan Lewis, recently noted: “[T]he current legal framework does not allow serious admissions of criminal conduct by News International to be taken into account when considering Newscorp’s acquisition of BSkyB.” The question the government will have to answer is why this was the case.

Rebekah Brooks, who was NoW editor at the time, and is now chief executive of News International, has so far managed to remain in her post. But today’s developments mean her position looks increasingly untenable.