Will we dump tabloids now we know more about the Milly Dowler hacking?

I don’t think there are too many people prepared to condone the News of the World’s alleged hacking of the cellphone of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002. Not only did the Murdoch Press paper hack the phone, but when her voicemail filled up, The Guardian alleges that the News of the World began deleting newer messages—giving the Dowler family hope that their daughter was still alive and checking messages. By that time she had already been murdered, though it didn’t stop the same newspaper from interviewing her parents and asking them if they had hope that Milly was still alive.
   There’s an outcry today, of course, as this news became public, and the Murdoch Press has said it would cooperate with authorities.
   Although it must be noted that its article in The Sun on the subject this morning merited a grand total of 95 words.
   The best punishment that everyday consumers can make is to stop buying their papers. But I don’t think it’ll happen.
   After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, we received so many comments from readers at another publication along the lines of, ‘I will never buy a tabloid again.’ What happened? Those readers might have stuck to their commitment, but tabloid circulation actually rose after Diana’s death.
   I’ve no doubt that the print numbers have since fallen—we are now in the 21st century, and the daily dead-tree industry looks increasingly anachronistic—but the appetite for tabloids and tabloid journalism remains.
   We still live in a world where ‘sources close to’ are interpreted as gospel, even by some so-called qualities and broadsheets.
   If Milly Dowler’s case is to mean anything, these commitments to dump tabloids, on- or offline, had better stick.


You may also like




One thought on “Will we dump tabloids now we know more about the Milly Dowler hacking?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *