7th JULY 2011

Okay, so I guess that I'd just like to add my two cents into the News of the World debacle that has been investigated into since 2005. I really don't know that much about the event, but I feel that reading more about it and listening more to what other people have to say, will help me to understand it better.

On this day in 2011, in the United Kingdom, reports surfaced that the mobile phones of deceased soldiers and their families had been hacked by News of the World staff. It was also revealed that murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had had her phone hacked as well. All of this forced News of the World to be closed and disbanded on the 10th of July. I feel sorry for the people who lost their jobs and who weren't involved. All because of other people's mistakes.

Most of this stuff has already been discussed, but what I really want to focus on is how that impacts the rest of the world. I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a worrier. Some people might say that I'm a daydreamer. I like to think of myself as "what if?" girl. I constantly look at situations, people, events and think, "well, what if this had happened instead of this? And then, what if they had done that instead?"

In regards to the News of the World issue, what I really wanted to know was what if they hadn't been caught out? How far would they have gone, hacking into certain people's phones?

I hate that now because of this scandal the good name of journalism has been sullied. Although the name of journalism was never really that good. I mean people always associated journalism with sticky-beaking and people putting their noses into other people's business. And now that image has been reaffirmed, the image that all journalists are good at is going too far for the story. So thanks for that News of the World.

And following all of this a whole number of other enquiries into the newspapers and journalistic professions are beginning to emerge. Celebrities and other pissed off actors are all jumping on the bandwagon so to speak, all having their own little stories or anecdotes about how journalists are the devil and they're all out to get the actors exposed. Hey, fellas, the journalists are just trying to of their job.

But then again, I guess we shouldn't get too caught up in what has happened and start looking forwards for the future of journalism. Now that Rupert Murdoch and his whole news empire are under examination, we really have to focus on how journalism is going to get better and learn from the past, I suppose.

I don't know really. It's just hard to get past the fact that they hacked the phones of deceased soldiers, people who defend their countries. 

Image available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8648029/News-of-the-World-phone-hacking-scandal-July-19-as-it-happened.html