Monthly Archives: July 2011

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation-owned British tabloid abruptly shuttered its presses today after finding itself engulfed in a phone-hacking scandal. The weekly’s unethical — and illegal — journalism techniques were hitting News Corp. hard. The paper was losing advertisers and News Corp.’s stock was plunging because of the scandal. And yet, was this unexpected?

At a press conference in August 2009, Murdoch said this:

Quality journalism is not cheap.

And earlier that year, in June, he told Neil Cavuto of Fox Business:

I can see the day — and it may be 20 years away — where you don’t actually have paper and ink and printing presses.

Maybe it was cheaper to hack phones and call it a day when caught than try to produce “quality journalism.”

Denver Daily News (Denver, Co.)
Howard Beach Times (Bayside, N.Y.)
Jackson Heights Times (Bayside, N.Y.)
Ridgewood Ledger (Bayside, N.Y.)

If you know other newspapers that stopped printing in June, let Observer know, too!