The suggestion that the voicemail of Milly Dowler, and quite possibly those of other murder victims or their relatives, have been hacked into, seems to have shocked the nation. Why? I would have been more surprised had it not been going on.
We have a tabloid press that has got itself into a spiral where each paper has to try to outdo its rivals in terms of scoops, exclusives, or sleaze. They do it for one simple reason and that's because people want to read it, so a lot of the mock indignation doesn't sit comfortably with me. There are only two things that can stop the sort of nonsense induged in by the NotW (and, more than likely, some of its rivals): either people stop buying it, which isn't going to happen, or advertisers stop spending. It seems that the latter might just be happening, but forgive me if I'm cynical about that too.
Are the companies that are considering taking their advertising away doing it for honourable reasons, or for commercial ones? Do their managements really care about what's been going on, or are they simply trying to score a few brownie points with their customers, and perhaps an edge over their competitors by beating them to the punch ? If it was the former they'd have done it years ago, but the truth is that they value access to the NotW's demographic much more than some sort of a moral stance.
My bet is that those who stop advertising will hold a watching brief: if the NotW's readership levels hold up then they'll be back after a suitably decent interval - that will be precisely how long they think it takes for enough people to have forgotten about the current furore.
Principle? Don't make me laugh!
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