As London and the rest of the media world gets back to business on Monday, the phone hacking scandal that has enveloped News Corp. the past week shows no signs of letting up.
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch made a public show of support for his embattled lieutenant, Rebekah Brooks, appearing arm-in-arm with her outside his home in London Sunday, the same day the last issue of the News of the World rolled off the presses.
The 80-year-old mogul also called Brooks, a central figure in the escalating scandal, his No. 1 priority, even as speculation about damage to his empire grows.
That speculation is constant and wide-ranging.
Writing in Newsweek, Carl Bernstein suggested that the illegal activity was known and condoned at the very top of the company.
Also Read: Carl Bernstein Rips Murdoch Culture, Says Top Execs ‘Condoned’ Illegality
In Ad Age, Simon Dumenco suggested that more advertisers may defect and the scandal will push Rupert out of the company leadership, to a titular position.
"If even just a few more bail, the risk of a domino effect is real,” he wrote. “Clearly it is not just News of the World that was radioactive. What we're seeing is a popular referendum on News Corp. corporate-journalistic ethics overall.”
If there is one thing the News of the World often got right in its morally bankrupt phone hacking, it is the facts. It is difficult to err when one has hard evidence – albeit illegally and dishonestly attained.
If there is one thing the media has lived off of since James Murdoch announced the shuttering of the World, it is conjecture. That is a bit easier to screw up, though time will tell who got what right.
In its final edition, the News of the World offered a "sad but proud" farewell to its readers, after 168 years in print. Several of the most prominent stories made the case that the paper "is a force for good," as one article insisted, pointing to good-works projects for charity, soldiers and children.
There was no mea culpa in the final edition, and no reference to the alleged crimes that got the paper shut down.
There is no question that this scandal will continue. Nor is there much doubt that more shocking details remain concealed. Whether they are revealed, how that comes about and, most importantly, what they consist of, is still anyone’s guess.
Also Read: Hacked! How the News of the World Scandal Threatens Murdoch's Empire
Media from both sides of the pond have begun to speculate about serious fallout – ranging from a halt to News Corp.’s planned BSkyB purchase to Murdoch ceding power to his son James.
James is the one who apparently argued for the abrupt closure of the World, a tabloid his father bought in 1969 as his first property outside Australia.
