Former "News of the World" Staffers Discuss Their Experiences

Tabloid journalism, by its very nature, ventures into the profession's gray areas and dark corners. If one works that trade, one learns very quickly what the beast is, its voracious appetite, and its unforgiving nature.

A window into this unseemly world has become available, thanks to the UK's collective revulsion over tactics employed by Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloids. Yahoo News provides a link to a Reuters story in which former News of the World staffers discussed their working environment. It tells the truth, unlike the specious, initial claim of Murdoch management that the phone hacking was done by a "rogue" journalist. The Reuters piece talks about editors' control of budgets, the mother's milk of the payoffs at the heart of blackmail journalism. The article also notes how stories are traded (i.e., hushed) in exchange for influence. The Reuters piece effectively counters the notion that senior management, such as Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, had no idea of the extent of its publication's illegal activities.

However, those who feel Murdoch is principally responsible for tabloid excesses ought to consider publications such as Gawker ("Today's gossip is tomorrow's news"), magazines produced by editorial divas such as Tina Brown (a/k/a Lady Evans, CBE), or newspapers such as American Media, Inc.'s National Enquirer. They're in the same game. So is Vanity Fair. It just doesn't put photos of women with ample bosoms on page three. That valuable real estate is reserved for the high fashion industry.