I spit on its grave

By Conor Pope / @conorpope

In one scene of the mid-nineties indie film Clerks, the two main characters discuss the morality of the Rebels destroying the evil Imperial Army’s Death Star in the third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi.

The argument for it being a bad thing is that this Death Star is still under construction when it is destroyed, after the original was blown up during A New Hope. So, for a job of that magnitude, outside contractors must have been brought in: they had nothing to do with the Imperialists, they were just normal people trying to bring a wage in for their family.

In Clerks, a roofer jumps in at this point and says that he thinks that personal politics comes into play in such situations, concluding: “Any independent contractor working on that Death Star knew the risk involved. If they got killed, it’s their own fault.”

If you hadn’t heard, today is the last edition of the News of the World. Oh, you had heard? Sorry, I just wanted to make sure.

Now, as a blogger for Political Scrapbook, I played as small a part in the online campaign to get advertisers to boycott the News of the World as it was probably possible to play. I am insurmountably proud of that. As much as you can be cynical about this, and say “They were planning this for months” or “There’ll be a Sun On Sunday” or whatever, the fact is News International would have not wanted to get rid of the News of the World and the decision was rushed through on Thursday. It was discontinued because normal, decent people forced companies into a position where they just couldn’t advertise in that rag anymore.

In my mind this is a good thing.

Anger has been directed at NewsInt for the fact so many innocent people, be they journos, secretaries or designers, have lost their job due to the demise of the paper. This, of course, makes sense. There is no joy to be found in gloating in someone’s joblessness.

Unfortunately, there is a ‘but’ here. Because, although it is sad that those people have lost their jobs, when it really comes down to it, it was us who called for the advertising boycott that pushed it over the edge and I am very, very glad that the News of the World will no longer exist. The British media is better for it. It sends a huge message that we won’t put up with what has come to pass as journalism.

Don’t think I’m blaming them rather than Brooks or Murdoch; of course I am not. Rupert Murdoch is an awful human being. Well, awful humanoid looking soulless demon. Thursday was not the first time the entire staff of a newspaper he owned were told they had no job. He is the ugly, ruthless, immoral and greedy side of capitalism many of us fear. I do not hate him so much that I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire; I undoubtedly would. But, given the chance, I would probably piss on him if he wasn’t on fire, so perhaps that doesn’t tell you much.

We destroyed the Death Star! Don’t go on at us about the deaths of independent government-contracted roofers! It was the bloody DEATH STAR!

In the end, these people worked for the News of the World. It’s been public knowledge for years that phone-hacking had happened there and I’ll bet a hell of a lot of people who worked there knew already what we only discovered this week. These people decided to work there, no doubt aided by the fact it was a very successful newspaper. But frankly, after what has happened there, it doesn’t deserve to exist anymore.

A friend one told me he that the water around an iceberg would have to be colder than the iceberg itself or it would melt. The culture of illegal activity had to be supported by many more around it who maybe had nothing to do with it. For example, today’s edition carries not a single mention of phonehacking. Seriously. The people who work there now, although hard done by, did not feel it newsworthy to have a single mention of not only the reason the paper no longer exists, but the biggest story of the week.

The News of the World is dead. I spit on its grave.