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British cellphone-hacking scandal escalates Flashback: Rupert Murdoch pulled the plug on the News of the World tabloid in July amid allegations that its employees hacked into the cellphones of a slain schoolgirl and the families of London terror victims. But the scandal has continued to build.
May 1, 2012
Members of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee release their report titled "News International and Phone-Hacking" at a news conference in London. The British parliamentary report said News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch had showed "willful blindness" over phone hacking at his News of the World tabloid and was not fit to run a major international company. The report also singled out former News International executive chairman Les Hinton, former legal manager Tom Crone and the News of the World's final editor, Colin Myler, as having all misled the committee.
Carl Court
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AFP/Getty Images
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May 1, 2012
Conservative member of Parliament Louise Mensch speaks during a news conference at the release of the report into News International and phone hacking at Portcullis House in London. Rupert Murdoch is unfit to run a major international company and should take responsibility for a culture of illegal phone hacking that has shaken News Corp, a powerful British parliamentary committee said.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
May 1, 2012
Labour member of Parliament Tom Watson listens during a news conference at the launch of the report into News International and phone hacking at Portcullis House in London.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
May 1, 2012
A report on News International and phone hacking by Britain's Department of Culture, Media and Sport was released at a news conference at Portcullis House in London. Rupert Murdoch and his son James were in the firing line as a British parliamentary committee issued its verdict on a phone-hacking scandal that has convulsed the family media empire and undermined the British government.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
May 1, 2012
Journalists read copies of a report on News International and phone hacking by Britain's Department of Culture, Media and Sport before a news conference at Portcullis House in London.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
May 1, 2012
A journalist reads a copy of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee report titled "News International and Phone-Hacking" before a news conference in London.
Carl Court
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AFP/Getty Images
May 1, 2012
A copy of a report on News International and phone hacking by Britain's Department of Culture, Media and Sport is seen ahead of a news conference at Portcullis House in London.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
April 26, 2012
A video image from pooled footage shows News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards at the High Court in London. Murdoch admitted there was a "cover-up" over phone hacking at Britain's News of the World tabloid but tried to shift the blame away from himself and senior executives at his media empire.
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AFP/Getty Images
April 25, 2012
From right to left: News Corp Chief Rupert Murdoch, his wife, Wendi Deng, and his son Lachlan Murdoch leave their London home Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch prepares to give evidence at a press ethics inquiry.
Leon Neal
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Getty Images
April 24, 2012
Demonstrators dressed as James, left, and Rupert Murdoch protest outside the High Court in London. James Murdoch gave evidence on Tuesday to the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the media at the High Court in London.
Paul Hackett
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Reuters
April 24, 2012
A still image from broadcast footage shows News Corp Deputy Chief Operating Officer, James Murdoch, speaking at the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the media at the High Court in London.
Reuters TV
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Reuters
April 24, 2012
In this image from video, Lord Justice Brian Leveson listens to a response from former News International chairman James Murdoch in London where he was summoned to answer questions under oath about how much he knew about phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid. Revelations that reporters had hacked into the phone of a teenage murder victim led James Murdoch's father Rupert to close the 168-year-old newspaper and triggered three police investigations as well as the judge-led inquiry into media practices. Rupert Murdoch, who is still chairman and chief executive of News International's parent company News Corp., will appear before the inquiry Wednesday.
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AP
April 24, 2012
Former News International chairman James Murdoch adjusts his tie as he arrives at the High Court to give evidence to The Leveson Inquiry in London, England.
Peter Macdiarmid
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Getty Images
April 24, 2012
James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, arrives at London's High Court ahead of his appearance before the Leveson Inquiry.
Leon Neal
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AFP/Getty Images
April 24, 2012
Rupert Murdoch, back seat, Chairman and CEO of News Corp., leaves his home in Mayfair, central London, as his son James gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.
Yui Mok
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AP
Nov. 10, 2011
A protester wearing a mask depicting former News International chairman James Murdoch, the son of News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch, poses with a mock-up of a newspaper "the Son" outside the houses of Parliament where Murdoch was to give evidence in the phone-hacking scandal in London. James Murdoch insisted that he had no knowledge of widespread phone-hacking at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid as he made a second appearance before British lawmakers.
Ben Stansall
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AFP/Getty Images
Nov. 10, 2011
News Corp. executive James Murdoch speaks to a parliamentarians in London. Murdoch said staff within his company had ordered private investigators to follow and investigate members of the parliamentary committee investigating the phone-hacking scandal.
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Reuters
Nov. 10, 2011
News Corp. executive James Murdoch faces questions from parliamentarians in London. Murdoch insisted that he wasn't told the whole truth about phone hacking at the News of the World, blaming subordinates for keeping him in the dark about the extent of wrongdoing at his company's flagship Sunday tabloid.
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Reuters
Nov. 10, 2011
News Corp. executive James Murdoch, left, leaves after his second appearance before British parliamentarians investigating the country's phone-hacking scandal in London.
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AP
July 20, 2011
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks about phone hacking to members of parliament in London. Cameron defended the way his staff dealt with the police over allegations of phone hacking and bribery at Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers .
Reuters TV
July 20, 2011
Britain's parliament sits during an emergency session on the phone hacking scandal in London.
Reuters TV
July 19, 2011
A man, left, attacks Rupert Murdoch with a plate of shaving cream during the parliamentary committee hearing on phone hacking incident in London.
Reuters TV
July 19, 2011
A man, named on Twitter as Jonnie Marbles, is led by police from Portcullis House in London after he attacked Rupert Murdoch with shaving cream.
Steve Parsons
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AP
July 19, 2011
Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks appears before the parliamentary committee.
Reuters TV
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Reuters
July 19, 2011
James Murdoch, left, and Rupert Murdoch give evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the News of the World phone hacking scandal in London. They apologized before a Parliamentary committee Tuesday for the phone hacking that has rocked their empire and the British government, but also said they have cooperated with police and done everything possible to address the illegal activity as they found out about it.
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AP
July 19, 2011
James Murdoch, right, and Rupert Murdoch testify before Parliament.
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AP
July 19, 2011
British member of Parliament Tom Watson asks Rupert Murdoch a question.
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AP
July 19, 2011
Rupert Murdoch said those he trusted to run the News of the World tabloid, not him, bore ultimate responsibility for the widespread phone hacking.
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AP
July 19, 2011
Culture, Media and Sport Committee Chairman John Whittingdale directs questions to James and Rupert Murdoch.
Reuters TV
July 19, 2011
James Murdoch said at the start of the hearing that hacking by the tabloid was "a matter of great regret of mine, my father's and everyone at News Corp. These actions do not live up to the standards that our companies aspire to."
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AP
July 19, 2011
Right to Work protesters gather outside Parliament Square shouting anti-Murdoch slogans in London. The phone hacking scandal continues to deepen with resignations yesterday from two of the UK’s most senior police officers. Both officers as well as Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebecca Brooks are being questioned about the scandal by a parliamentary select committee. Prime Minister David Cameron has cut short his trip to Africa and will return to the UK to attempt to deal with the crisis.
Paula Bronstein
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Getty Images
July 19, 2011
James Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp. Europe and Asia, arrives at News International headquarters in London. Murdoch; his father, Rupert, and the media mogul's former top U.K. newspaper chief, Rebekah Brooks, face a grilling from lawmakers about the intensifying phone hacking scandal, which has spread from their media empire to the top ranks of the police and even the British prime minister's office.
Sang Tan
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AP
July 19, 2011
Rupert Murdoch is driven down Whitehall in London ahead of his and his son James's appearance before a House of Commons committee to face their intensely awaited grilling on the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
Chris Radburn
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AP
July 19, 2011
Photographers and cameramen surround the vehicle carrying Rupert Murdoch.
Chris Ison
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AP
July 19, 2011
A man wearing a mask of Rupert Murdoch protests outside parliament in London.
Peter Macdiarmid
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Getty Images
July 19, 2011
Departing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson arrives at the Houses of Parliament in London to give evidence on the phone hacking scandal to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Leon Neal
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AFP/Getty Images
July 19, 2011
Journalists wait in line to enter Portculis House in Britain's Houses of Parliament for the Home Affairs Select Committee on the phone hacking scandal. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, son James and former top aide Rebekah Brooks face a showdown with British lawmakers over the scandal that has enraged the nation. The trio were to appear before a parliamentary committee over the escalating crisis, which on Monday claimed the scalp of a second police chief.
Carl Court
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AFP/Getty Images
July 18, 2011
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates leaves New Scotland Yard in London after he announced his resignation.
Peter Macdiarmid
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Getty Images
July 18, 2011
Assistant Commissioner John Yates announces in London that he is to step down following criticism of his handling of a review of the initial phone hacking investigation and failure to recognize the potential threat to the force's reputation. Britain's phone-hacking scandal claimed the scalps of two top policeman as Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday cut short a trip to Africa to deal with a crisis that threatens his own position.
Steve Parsons
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AFP/Getty Images
July 18, 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with Bishop Desmond Tutu as he visits Liliesleaf, the place of the underground movement of the ANC resistance in the 1960s, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Cameron — struggling to deflect criticism about hiring a top editor in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire who was involved in the phone-hacking scandal — said he would cut short a trip to Africa to address a special session of Parliament.
Christopher Furlong
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July 18, 2011
The News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal blasted critics for double standards and insisted the phone-tapping scandal in Britain should not tarnish all of Rupert Murdoch's media empire. The Journal, the flagship of Murdoch's U.S. print operations, also warned that pressure to investigate News Corp. under U.S. laws against bribing foreign officials could backfire on the entire media. "Do our media brethren really want to invite Congress and prosecutors to regulate how journalists gather the news?" the country's leading financial newspaper asked in an editorial. The newspaper, owned by Dow Jones & Co, taken over by News Corp. four years ago, accused politicians and competitors of "using the phone-hacking years ago at a British corner of News Corp. to assail the Journal, and perhaps injure press freedom as well."
Paul J. Richards
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AFP/Getty Images
July 17, 2011
Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, leaves New Scotland Yard in central London, on July 17. Stephenson resigned without warning.
Ben Stansall
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AFP/Getty Images
July 17, 2011
Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson outside New Scotland Yard in central London.
Ben Stansall
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AFP/Getty Images
July 16, 2011
Newspapers display the advertisement apology for News International at a news vendor in London. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch signed the company ad entitled "We are sorry," which appears in British national newspapers Saturday. The News International publication News of the World is accused of hacking into the mobile phones of various crime victims, celebrities and politicians.
Sang Tan
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AP
July 15, 2011
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, center, speaks to the media after meeting the family of murdered British school girl Milly Dowler in London. Murdoch will use advertisements in British national newspapers on Saturday to apologize for "serious wrongdoing" by his News of the World tabloid, News International said.
Ben Stansall
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AFP/Getty Images
July 15, 2011
Sally Dowler, left, Gemma Dowler, center, Bob Dowler, second right, Parents and sister of murdered school girl Milly Dowler and spokesman Mark Lewis, right, speak to the media after they had a meeting with Rupert Murdoch in London. The lawyer for the Milly Dowler's family says Rupert Murdoch has issued a full and sincere apology to the murdered schoolgirl's family for the actions of journalists at his newspaper. Mark Lewis told reporters that the media baron called the private meeting and apologized "many times," telling the Dowlers the events that transpired at the News of the World tabloid were not in keeping with the standards set out when his own father entered the media industry.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
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AP
July 14, 2011
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, right, his son Lachlan Murdoch, center, a board member of Australia's Network Ten and an unidentified woman leave his residence in London. Murdoch has an obligation to appear before lawmakers to answer questions about the phone hacking scandal at one of his newspapers, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Thursday. Murdoch had big questions to answer after the widening accusations of eavesdropping and police bribery forced Murdoch's News Corp. to abandon a bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, Clegg said.
Sang Tan
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AP
July 13, 2011
Britain's former prime minister, Gordon Brown, speaks to parliament in London. Britain's parliament celebrated victory over Rupert Murdoch, breaking the spell which the Australian-born media mogul has held over the country's politics for three decades.
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Reuters TV
July 13, 2011
Chase Carey, the deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer of News Corp. leaves News International headquarters in Wapping, London. News Corp withdrew its $12 billion bid to buy out the 61 percent of broadcaster BSkyB it does not already own on Wednesday after the government turned on Rupert Murdoch following a phone hacking scandal.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
July 13, 2011
A demonstrator from Avaaz, a global campaigning group, dressed as Rupert Murdoch, holds a puppet of Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, in front of Parliament in London. Shares in British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC barely moved on the news that Murdoch's News Corp. has pulled its takeover bid for the company in the face of vociferous opposition in Britain's Parliament. Analysts said investors concluded that the bid was dead in the water. News Corp.'s move was the latest development in a phone hacking and bribery scandal at the News of the World, which the company closed July 10 after 168 years.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
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AP
July 13, 2011
British Labour leader Ed Miliband, center, reacts during Prime Minister's Question time in the House of Commons, London. British lawmakers were poised to demand that media baron Rupert Murdoch give up his goal of taking over a lucrative U.K. broadcaster, pressed to act by the fallout from a phone hacking and bribery scandal at Murdoch's U.K. newspapers.
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AP
July 13, 2011
James Murdoch, News Corp.'s chairman for Europe, right, arrives at the offices of News International, a News Corp. subsidiary, at Wapping in London. News Corp. will review all editorial expenditure at its Australian operations over the past three years to check whether payments to contributors and other third parties were for legitimate services.
Chris Ratcliffe
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Bloomberg
July 12, 2011
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks during an interview on BBC Television. Brown accused Rupert Murdoch's newspapers of employing criminals to obtain confidential information about his family, his private financial affairs and the lives of ordinary people who were at "rock bottom." Brown's furious denunciation of the politically powerful News International papers came a day after questions were raised about how the Sun newspaper obtained confidential information in 2006 that Brown's infant son, Fraser, had cystic fibrosis.
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AP
July 12, 2011
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch reads a copy of the Times of London newspaper as he arrives at his London home. British lawmakers are set to grill police chiefs amid reports that royalty and former British prime minister Gordon Brown were targeted in a phone-hacking scandal that forced Murdoch to shutter his "News of the World" tabloid.
Ki Price
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AFP/Getty Images
July 12, 2011
A pedestrian passes a poster of Rupert Murdoch with a sticker that reads "What a Jeremy Hunt," referring to U.K. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, placed over its mouth, in London. News Corp. bought itself time to weather the furor over a phone hacking scandal at the now-defunct News of the World by pushing Hunt to refer its bid for British Sky Broadcasting Group to regulators, ensuring that no decision will be made on the deal for at least six months.
Simon Dawson
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Bloomberg
July 12, 2011
The Hacked Off campaign group, including former Police Commander Brian Paddick and family members of a slain 13-year-old girl whose phone was hacked by News of the World, Bob Dowler, Sally Dowler and Gemma Dowler, arrive at the cabinet office for a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in London. The group is campaigning for a full public inquiry into phone hacking by journalists.
Peter Macdiarmid
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Getty Images
July 12, 2011
Les Hinton, right, head of Dow Jones, arrives at a house where Rupert Murdoch was staying in London. Hinton was the executive chairman of the News International, the corporate umbrella of News of the World, before taking the position at News Corp.-owned Dow Jones. His tenure coincided with much of the hacking and police payoffs that led to the British tabloid's closure. He said he was unaware of the hacking incidents.
Lefteris Pitarakis
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AP
July 12, 2011
News Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive James Murdoch, left, arrives for work in Wapping, east London. British former prime minister Gordon Brown accused newspapers from Rupert Murdoch's media empire of using "known criminals" to hack into his personal information.
Andrew Cowie
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AFP/Getty Images
July 11, 2011
A television cameraman films a sign outside British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC's headquarters in Isleworth, U.K. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt asked regulators for additional advice following a phone-hacking scandal at News of the World, the tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, who bid on British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC.
Simon Dawson
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Bloomberg
July 10, 2011
Murdoch leaves his London apartment with Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International and former editor of News of the World.
Olivia Harris
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Reuters
July 10, 2011
A customer buys a copy of the final edition of News of the World from a vendor in central London.
Sang Tan
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AP
July 9, 2011
Dan Wootton, right, former show business editor for News of the World, reads the last edition in a bar, where journalists from the paper gathered after it shut down.
Paul Hackett
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Reuters
July 9, 2011
Printer Jeff Gorecki watches as copies of the final News of the World newspaper are run through the presses in Waltham Cross, England. Five million copies of the last edition of the 168-year-old newspaper are being printed.
Peter Macdiarmid
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Getty Images
July 8, 2011
Plainclothes policemen carry bags of evidence as they leave the home of Andy Coulson, the former media chief of British Prime Minister David Cameron, in London. Police arrested Coulson, who worked at the paper, over Britain's phone hacking scandal as the prime minister promised urgent inquiries into failures by politicians, police and the press.
Andrew Cowie
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AFP/Getty Images
July 8, 2011
Demonstrators gather for a protest outside the headquarters of News International in east London.
Ki Price
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AFP/Getty Images
July 8, 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron promised a full investigation into the phone hacking and the police bribery that led to the collapse of the News of the World tabloid, saying that British politicians had for too long looked the other way regarding illegal practices. Declaring that self-regulation of the press had failed, Cameron said a new body independent of the government and the news industry was needed to regulate newspapers in place of the Press Complaints Commission.
Peter Macdiarmid
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AP
July 8, 2011
Copies of the U.K.'s national newspapers on display at a newsagents in London. Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who resigned as Prime Minister David Cameron's press chief in January, was arrested as part of a probe into phone-hacking at the tabloid, a person familiar with the matter said.
Chris Ratcliffe
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Bloomberg News
July 7, 2011
Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., is surrounded by media as he arrives at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. Murdoch pulled the plug on his News of the World, Britain’s best-selling weekly tabloid newspaper, which shut down after publishing its final issue on July 10.
Scott Olson
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Getty Images
July 7, 2011
James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp. for Europe and Asia, is driven away from the offices of News International in London. News International announced Thursday it would shut down the News of the World. The 168-year-old weekly newspaper published publish its last edition Sunday.
Matt Dunham
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AP
July 7, 2011
Britain's News of the World tabloid printed its last edition on July 10, following a scandal over phone hacking.
Adrian Dennis
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AFP/Getty Images
The News of the World sent an e-mail to subscribers, notifying them that the British tabloid's last edition would be published Sunday. "We ask you for your patience at this time," the e-mail said, adding that readers could receive updates via the publication's Web site and social media.
July 7, 2011
Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, is driven away from the offices of News International in London.
Matt Dunham
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AP
July 7, 2011
A News of the World display in Canvey Island, U.K. The Royal British Legion, the charity for U.K. war veterans, dropped the News of the World as a campaign partner after allegations that its journalists hacked into messages on mobile phones of relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chris Ratcliffe
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Bloomberg
July 7, 2011
News of the World employees outside the offices of News International in London.
Matt Dunham
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AP
July 6, 2011
A man looks at a phone in front of a News International building in London. The tabloid phone hacking scandal dominated British airways Wednesday as it swelled to allegedly involve more missing schoolgirls and the families of London terror victims. News International, the British linchpin of Rupert Murdoch's global News Corp. media empire, was under intense pressure. It has been accused of possibly interfering with police investigations into missing girls who were found murdered.
Matt Dunham
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AP
July 6, 2011
A video image shows British Prime Minister David Cameron addressing the House of Commons in London. Cameron called for an official inquiry into allegations of phone hacking by newspaper journalists at Rupert Murdoch's News International on Wednesday.
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Reuters
July 6, 2011
Puppets representing Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, right, are held aloft by a Rupert Murdoch impersonator at the launch of the campaign group Hacked Off near Parliament on July 6, 2011, in London. The prime minister has promised there will be a public inquiry into phone hacking carried out by journalists at the News of the World newspaper.
Peter Macdiarmid
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Getty Images
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