But instead, according to reporters present at the speech, Ms. Brooks told the gathered crowd that she and others at News International, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, “had considered every option” before deciding that the public would “never forgive us” for the revelations that had come — and more that she warned were imminent, without providing specific detail. She had worked for the company for 22 years, she said, and the decision pained her. But The News of the World would be closed down.
There were gasps, and tears, according to Jules Stenson, the head of features at the newspaper, because no one, including the most senior figures, “had an inkling” that the shutdown was coming. His overwhelming emotion, he told reporters, was that “current staff should not be tainted” by a scandal most of them were not involved in.
As the newspaper’s employees began to process the information, and calculate their severance pay, Colin Myler, the editor, gave an emotional speech celebrating the newspaper’s history. The nation would be losing “part of the fabric of British life,” he said, promising a “very special” issue for the paper’s last, due this Sunday.
According to two reporters who were present, the staff was also told that Ms. Brooks had offered her resignation twice this week, as the scandal grew, but that it had been turned down. One employee said, wryly, according to the accounts, “We accept.”
Outside of the newspaper’s glossy headquarters — a sleek glass and granite complex to which the staff had moved just months ago — a band of soon-to-be former employees gathered that afternoon to talk, smoke cigarettes and make urgent phone calls as an unseasonable wind buffeted them.
Many were reluctant to discuss events, fearing that payouts or future employment might be jeopardized. But one reporter reached by telephone and speaking on the condition of anonymity mentioned widespread anger, saying of Ms. Brooks, “I hope she is worth it for Rupert.”
Another journalist added that as the hacking scandal had developed, extending from The News of the World across the British media, into 10 Downing Street and Scotland Yard, many journalists had been polishing résumés and worrying that their careers might be in jeopardy. But none had expected such a sudden turn of events. “If you hear of any jobs going,” said the journalist, “let me know.”
As the sun set on a day that many staff members described with expletives, dozens decided on a time-honored tabloid tradition. They gathered, en masse, at a nearby pub, where The News of the World was running an open tab for the staff.
There one reporter suggested that there had been displays of triumphalism at The Guardian, the newspaper that had broken and then doggedly pursued the phone-hacking story. Several reporters at The Guardian vehemently denied the rumor and expressed solidarity with the fired News of the World employees.
So, too, did copy editors from The News of the World’s sister newspaper, The Sun, who announced they would walk out of work for this evening. And Britain’s National Union of Journalists said in a statement that the closing of The News of the World was merely “an act of damage limitation to salvage Murdoch’s reputation and that of News International — both of which are now tarnished beyond repair.”
As reporters drank, and merged with other members of the press present to cover the shutdown, some expressed more sanguine views. “Maybe we’ll get a nice lump sum,” one said. He paused and added, “Life’s too short to worry anyway.” But another journalist, part of the covering pack, suggested that Mr. Murdoch and Ms. Brooks had made a strategic error in unleashing hundreds of angry and “ruthless reporters with an axe to grind.”
As TV screens in the pub showed the latest Guardian scoop — that Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor and Downing Street adviser — would be arrested Friday morning in connection with phone hacking, one reporter said only, “It’s not over yet.”
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=4b87f9716ddf00c2e3d1b25af395effc