News of the World Shutting Down

News Corp.'s tabloid darling's "inhuman" practice of hacking voicemails leads to its downfall.

The British tabloid News of the World will print its final issue this Sunday, bowing to immense public pressure and an advertiser boycott over its practice of hacking the voicemails of the relatives of the London terror attacks and soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer of News Corp. and son of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, announced the paper was shutting down today, citing the “inhuman” practices that “sullied” the tabloid's already pretty low reputation. News of the World, founded in 1843, had been the most-read newspaper in the U.K., somehow. Murdoch said any revenue generated by the last issue would be donated to charitable causes, perhaps the first beneficial act the tabloid has performed since ... well, probably 1843.