500 words on Phone Hacking Scandal

Phone hacking has been a major thing in the news of recent years. Many people have head the stories of celebrities voice mail being hacked and there phone security being jeopardised. Phone hacking has become such a thing that News Of The World has even been shut down and taken out of the publishing industry. Thousands of people lost their jobs due to a selected group of investigative journalists/editors planning and executing to hack the phones of well know celebrities like Prince Harry’s assistant or football player Wayne Rooney. The Scotland Yard informed victims that their voicemails had indeed been accessed without permission. Others only found when the guardian featured a story about celebrities or people in high political positions has indeed been hacked as well. Many others noticed something was wrong or were worried that they may have been hacked so they approached The Scotland Yard themselves. It wasn’t just phone hacking many were accused of police bribing or exercising improper influence in the processes of publishing stories.  Investigations conducted from 2005 to 2007 concluded that the News Of The World phone hacking activities were limited to celebrities, politicians and members of the British royal Family. In July 2011, it was revealed that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7/7 London Bombings were also accessed, resulting in a public outcry against News Corporation and owner Rupert Murdock. Advertiser boycotts contributed to the closer of the News Of The World on July 10th, ending 168 years of publication. Continued public pressure later forced News Corporation to cancel its proposed takeover of the British telecommunications company BskyB. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on 6th July 2011 that a public inquiry would look into the affair after police investigations had ended. On 13th July 2011, Cameron named Lord Justice Leveson as a chairman on the inquiry, with a remit to look into phone hacking and police bribery by the News of the world, while a separate inquiry would consider the culture and ethics of the wider British media.