Red-Top Ruckus on the Newspaper Stands

It feels like the privacy of the public has been hacked off at the knees. And the elbows. And the neck. Recent revelations about the dealings of the News of the World newspaper has shocked the nation and the fine people that reside here. Heck, the whole world has been shocked by what vile atrocities have been glooping out of the news as of late - the News of the World has, for all of the wrong reasons, become world news.  Personally I've never been a bit fan of the red-tops anyway and have only even bought a single copy of one of them - and only for a laugh too. I can almost see where the appeal comes from and where the high sales are achieved but I'll never be converted. I'm more of a Guardian/Observer man myself and you can call me a snob but when it comes to journalism and newspaper production, quality always beats page 3 for me. I like to be able to read a paper where I know that I can trust and believe 99% of what is written - something that I don't believe ever has been the case with tabloid newspapers and has been diminished further in my eyes due to recent, shocking reports. 

The question that has been rolling around in my busy head in the last couple of weeks as more and more of this horrific story has been unraveled is this: where does it all end? When the News of the World was brought to an end at the weekend, the editor said that the worst was yet to come. That line came the week after we heard about murder and terrorism victims having their mobile phones hacked - I asked myself how could it get worse? This week we've heard that personal information about the Royals was leaked and that the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had information about his son's illness leaked to the press as well. When this all started a few months ago, it was celebrities that were being targeted. Now we are hearing that it is the private lives of normal people (that have gone through harrowing ordeals with losing a loved one) and the people that are running our country that were being probed at - something is amiss and it might be that little thing called morals.

Newspapers have to be one step ahead of everyone else in this age of social networking and live updates otherwise their product just doesn't sell. As well as telling us today's news, they also have to be able to sell tomorrow's news and there we have, what could be viewed as being, the rationale behind using underhand ways of getting news - doesn't mean that it's right though. It's immoral and needed to be stopped a long time before it actually was. What worries me is that the actions used trying to get tomorrow's news might fill up news bulletins for many years to come as more of this (what can only be called a) mess is picked apart and viewed under the cold light of day.

I'm glad that this is coming out in the open despite the fact that it is causing a lot of suffering to the victims concerned. If the public isn't informed about this kind of thing then it will continue to happen until none of us can confidently make a phone call without worrying about it being overheard. I know what my favourite papers are but I'm sure that there are now a lot of people doubting their choice as they stand in the newsagents in the morning.

Thanks for reading,

Martin