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"The News of the World", a Newspaper for the Newly Literate Working Classes, Begins Publication

10/1/1843 to 7/10/2011
First issue of The News of the World compared with a 2020 issue published before the paper shut down.

First issue of The News of the World compared with a 2020 issue published before the paper shut down.

On October 1, 1843 John Browne Bell began publication in London of The News of the World. 

"Priced at just three pence (equal to £1.24 in 2019), it was the cheapest newspaper of its time and was aimed directly at the newly literate working classes. It quickly established itself as a purveyor of titillation, shock and criminal news. Much of the source material came from coverage of vice prosecutions, including transcripts of police descriptions of alleged brothels, streetwalkers, and 'immoral' women"....

"The News of the World concentrated in particular on celebrity scoops, gossip and populist news. Its somewhat prurient focus on sex scandals gained it the nickname News of the Screws.[6] In its last decade it had a reputation for exposing celebrities' drug use, sexual peccadilloes, or criminal acts, by using insiders and journalists in disguise to provide video or photographic evidence, and covert phone hacking in ongoing police investigations.[7][8] Sales averaged 2,812,005 copies per week in October 2010.[9]

"From 2006, allegations of phone hacking began to engulf the newspaper. These culminated in the revelation on 4 July 2011 that, nearly a decade earlier, a private investigator hired by the newspaper had intercepted the voicemail of missing British teenager Milly Dowler, who was later found murdered.

"Amid a public backlash and the withdrawal of advertising, News International announced the closure of the newspaper on 7 July 2011.[8][10] The scandal deepened when the paper was alleged to have hacked into the phones of families of British service personnel killed in action. Senior figures on the newspaper have been held for questioning by police investigating the phone hacking and corruption allegations. Arrested on 8 July 2011 were former editor Andy Coulson and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, the latter jailed for phone hacking in 2007. The former executive editor Neil Wallis was arrested on 15 July 2011 and former editor Rebekah Brooks, the tenth person held in custody, on 17 July 2011." (Wikipedia article on News of the World, accessed 9-2020).

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