News International and hacking Milly Dowler (87)

We love gossip, tittle-tattle and corner creeping therefore huge chunks of the media panders to that. I can only imagine that if we create a society in which people are truly valued instead of being seen as consumable stores then we may be getting somewhere.

Cunt busting is the new black.

Cookie I know you're a bit, you know, well, you are what you are. But are you seriously telling me that the UK needs a print media that routinely hacks the mobile phones of murdered children and their families?

This isn't an issue of freedom of the press. We can have a free press today, we can have one tomorrow, regardless of what happens to the newspapers. Because this is not freedom of the press. What we have here is criminal invasion of privacy conducted on a massive scale with a cynicism and indecency that defies expression.

It is without any doubt at all the most repulsive act ever perpetrated by the British media.

I mean what are we talking about here? We're talking about the fact that if your son or daughter was murdered in the UK within the last ten years or so, then the newspapers would be hacking your phone. They'd be listening to messages you might leave on your kids phone. They'd be deleting messages you had left, so you could leave more, so that they could listen. It looks very likely that this has been done in every high profile murder case going back years, and for other crimes including rape.

And that's just the families and victims of serious crime. Then we've got the thousands, yes thousands, of other people. Celebrities, politicians, law enforcement officials, ordinary people. Thousands of them.

There doesn't need to be curtailment of press freedoms to address this monstrous activity. Because it's not covered under press freedom in the civilised world. In the civilised world this sort of intrusion is not even a power given to domestic intelligence services.

Heads need to roll. A lot of heads. And they need to roll far. A lot of editors and journalists need to be looking at jail time. Probably some police too. And the papers that did it should be wound up. Though I expect this won't need to be done officially, I don't think even the News of the World can shrug off something this vile.

The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

Edited 5 Jul 11, 8:49 PM by Doghouse_Reilly

^^ Completely agree with @Doghouse_Reilly. It is repulsive, and just because some parts of the public are interested in it does not mean it is in the public interest to act in such a repugnant and illegal manner...

If you are disgusted by the NoTW and Murdoch approach to freedom of the press, sign the petitions at

http://www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages_2/?vl

and

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/murdoch-deal-...

to pressure Jeremy Hunt not to let Murdoch take over the rest of BSkyB.. (deadline is Friday, so sign now)

There's a somebody I'm longing to see, I hope that he turns out to be, someone to watch over me
I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood, I know I could always be good, to one who'll watch over me (Ella Fitzgerald)

I'm not sure that is necessarily the case. The majority of people who buy the papers probably give no thought to how the tabloids come by their stories. If they did they might have a different attitude. You could, I suppose, include ignorance and stupidity in the faults that mean people get the press they deserve, but I think the general reaction to the current exposees does suggest that actually most people aren't prepared to support the lengths that tabloids go to to get their stories, and that there will be a backlash against the press.

That would suggest that the press have gone further than their readers would want, and are more to blame for this than the people who read them. Had they always been open about their methods, and people still bought the papers, you might have a stronger case.

You may still have a case when this blows over and people carry on buying tabloids, who carry on as before, merely pretending to be cleaner, only time will tell. I don't think that stops us from condemning the reasonably well educated tabloid journalists and editors who are prepared to stoop to such levels to exploit people's base instincts and weaknesses. It would be a bit like saying that drug dealing is entirely the fault of the addicts who buy the drugs, and not of the dealers who exploit them.

Slightly tangentially, the topic is sensitive. Rebekah Wade/Brooks has staked her editorial career on "ThinkOfTheChildren, if you don's support Sarahs' Law, you are a paedophile.". This is ENTIRELY contrary to the role in interfering with evidence into the investigations in two child murder cases. Its difficult to see how her misguided readership can reconcile those two things.

In other distinct lack of news; There is still no investigation into the receipt of money by police officers from News International, that darling Rebekah admitted to making to a parliamentary select comittee..... or where it went.

And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!

Edited 5 Jul 11, 11:14 PM by Attitude_Adjuster

No, I'm really not "We". I hate the gossip, my friends tell me that I have a 'sports-shaped hole in my consciousness', I don't know (or want to know) who anyone on the front of 'OK' or 'Hello' magazine is, I won't watch any 'soaps', so-called reality TV or the talentless shows.

I read the Telegraph, listen to Radio 4 (not 'The Archers') and the World Service, yet still manage to have a wide social circle, give and attend parties where I can converse interestingly about many things EXCEPT those mentioned in the first paragraph - and, of course, a depraved and rancidly filthy sex life. I expect the news media to tell me what is happening in the world, of consequence, in order to inform my opinions and life choices.

Ye gods, the Situationists were right. The Spectacle is taking over. Soma anyone?

"He took a single sip of her pain and found it exquisite"

yes I am what I am, generally smarter and able to not project arguments.

Of course if these hacks are found doing mean things they should be persecuted to the full exstent of the law. But that is not the same as saying the tabloid media should not exist which was what I was responding to.

It provides a legal and regulated outlet for people into such things, and maybe lets their readers let of steam rather than becoming the neighbourhood curtain twitching snoop. Maybe they are both? I dont know.

It seems that this incident is being used as a general reason to bash certain sections of the media/ its readers and/or its owner. they are seperate issues If people didn't have the desire for it it wouldn't exist.

I agree with you but less of the "we". Different strokes for different folks. You may wish to moralise over some peoples tastes and hope they could be better "educated". Have you stopped to think they may feel the same about you?

Will do, no worries. Thanks for the heads-up

Cunt busting is the new black.

Not used to people agreeing on here, that thrown me off kilter lol.