NOTW – Slugger O'Toole

Liam Fox: The first post ‘Screws’ resignation?

Mick Fealty on October 15, 2011, 8:22 am

| Readers 16

I was talking to a young Conservative councillor in London yesterday, who asked me if I thought the Defence Minster would survive… At the time, I reckoned, not having taken a huge interest in the Westminster gossip (or the conflicting prognoses emanating from the Guido household), that it was pretty clear he wouldn’t (or rather shouldn’t). But for only one specific reason. Dr Fox’s friend Adam Wherritty had casual access to the Secretary of State (styling himself advisor on some …

NOTW: “There are family members of dead servicemen on our board, and they will not accept News of the World’s money”

Mick Fealty on July 26, 2011, 11:19 am

| Readers 6

Fascinating piece in the New York Times on the last minutes of the News of the World. This is what ‘burning the brand’ means: When a chap from H.R. took the stage to tell us why our e-mail had stopped working, I walked out, too exhausted to listen anymore. I had one last assignment to complete. During my time with the paper, I had developed close ties with many charities, especially those dealing with the armed forces. Because of this, …

Best of #Hackgate commentary (4)

Mick Fealty on July 10, 2011, 3:32 pm

| Readers 5

Okay, so the list is getting longer each day, but if you and to get to grips with the latest on one of the biggest post war stories in UK politics and media, you can surf this lot. News International found “smoking gun” emails in 2007 An answer to quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Digital Networks. World’s End Shouldn’t Cost Freedom of the Press YouGov on the phone hacking scandal Leaked Labour email: lay off Murdoch Dizzy: Meanwhile, in the (un) …

Why we still need the News of the Screws (rather than doped up bloodhounds)….

Mick Fealty on July 6, 2011, 12:32 pm

| Readers 2

It has to be said that I don’t agree with our esteemed Welsh blogger Dewi. Boycotting the News of the World or the Sun, or even these days The Times or Sunday Times is not an option for me personally, because I rarely read any of them (certainly not since Trevor Kavanagh departed as politic editor). Though declaring an interest, last year, for the first time, I did sell The London Times one analysis piece on the Iris Robinson story. …

Twitter v #NOTW: the growing power of social media?

John Ó Néill on July 6, 2011, 12:27 pm

| Readers 3

Over on the BBC, Rory Cellan-Jones has some background on an interesting aspect of the News of the World story. For a while now, traditional news outlets have been in competition (of sorts) with social media to feed a developed appetite for rolling news. However, as Cellan-Jones has flagged, this story appears to be bringing the print and broadcast media into conflict rather than competition with social media, particularly Twitter. A quick click on the current picture on trendsmap.com (at 12 pm on 06/07/2011) shows all the …

If we know where the NOTW ‘phreaking’ story began, where does it end?

Mick Fealty on July 5, 2011, 8:00 am

| Readers 11

It’s hard to find the right words to describe what Glenn Mulcaire appears to have done in the case of the murdered teenager, Milly Dowler. ‘Phreaking’, we’re told, rather than ‘hacking’ is the correct portmanteau term [*see Comrade Stalin’s comment below]. And that word is disturbingly resonant with a News of the World operative not just listening to Milly’s phone messages, but deleting some to make space for more, thereby falsely raising the family’s hopes that she might have still been …