News of the World Phone Hacking a Scandal, a Media Relations Analysis

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The flow of information between the government and the press in any nation across the globe is a sensitive ‘flow’ to put it mildly. Sensitive as there are many protocols in place to guide this ‘flow’. These protocols are in place to ensure a just reciprocal relationship between the government and the press. That is, it is the job of the press to act as a watch dog for a nation’s citizens, as it is long believed that a free media is the key to an effective democracy; and that it is the job of a government, to govern justly and in turn act as a watchdog for its citizens, to ensure the press does not violate their human rights as well as take action on parties choosing to engage themselves in criminal activity. In 2005, one of the biggest if not the biggest and most public phone hacking scandals came to light. The scandal in question is none other than the “News of The World” phone hacking scandal. (Chandrasekhar. Wardrop. Trotman. 2005.). The nature, size and impacts of the scandal were so immense that it led to not only several cases of litigation over the span of 6 years but also more on going cases outside of the scandal as a result of evidence collected, ultimately culminating in the closure of the “News of the World” in 2011. (Chandrasekhar. Wardrop. Trotman. 2005.). Moreover, in 2007 former British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered a speech in regards to the scandal which very much relates to this essay. He said in a statement and I quote, “I do believe this relationship between the media and public life is now damaged in a manner that requires repair. The damage saps the country’s confidence and self-belief; it undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions; and, above all, it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our future”, end quote. (Rutter. 2011.). As another result of the scandal, in 2011 the Leveson Inquiry
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