News International phone hacking scandal

The News International phone-hacking scandal was a controversy around the now no longer publishing News of the World and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. People who worked for the newspaper were accused of hacking phones, police bribery, and other crimes in order to get stories. Even though investigations that took place from 2005 to 2007 suggested that the newspaper only hacked the phones of celebrities, politicians, and people in the British royal family, in July 2011 it was found out that the phones of killed student Milly Dowler, family of dead British soldiers, and people killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings had also been hacked. The anger of the public at News Corporation caused many well-known people to stop working there, including Rupert Murdoch and his son. The commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Sir Paul Stephenson, also left their jobs. Many companies stopped advertising work with the newspaper, leading to the end of the News of the World on 10 July 2011, after 168 years of making newspapers. Anger from the public meant News Corporation decided to cancel its suggested takeover of the British television broadcaster BSkyB.

The prime minister David Cameron said on 6 July 2011 that a public investigation, known as the Leveson Inquiry, would look into phone hacking and police bribery by the News of the World, if what some British newspapers did to get stories was okay and that the Press Complaints Commission would be changed and replaced fully. A few arrests and prison sentenced followed, most well-known being the arrest of the former News of the World top editor Andy Coulson.