Analysis On Phone-hacking Scandal Of The News Of The World

The News of the World had been published for168years before it was shut down amidphone-hacking scandal. More and more research on this newspaper has been done since then. Researchof other people’s is summarized in this paper. However, it is tried to make more comprehensive andmore profound analyses on the historical and realistic reasons of phone-hacking scandal of the News ofthe World. The method of qualitative research is used. And it is done in the perspective of politicaleconomy of communication. As a matter of fact, phone-hacking scandal of the News of the World isclosely related to the development of western media. As it is said by the school of political economy ofcommunication, due to media economic structure, which is advertising-centered, it is difficult that,media, especially those privately-owned and commercialized media, do not pursue profits as high aspossible. As there is more and more competition in the market, illegal action which is againstjournalistic professionalism, will be taken in order to be eye-catching and make more profits.This paper is mainly made up of three parts:Part one is introduction. Intention of research, literature review, research theme, theoreticalframework, and research methods are all presented in this part. The theoretical framework of this paperis the theory of political economy of communication. The historical and realistic reasons ofphone-hacking scandal of the News of the World are interpreted from the perspective of politicaleconomy. Qualitative research methods are used in this paper. It is tried to clarify the historicaldevelopment of the News of the World. And phone-hacking scandal of the News of the World isinterpreted and analyzed. Social and historical reasons of phone-hacking scandal of the News of theWorld are provided so that it will be helpful to interpret and comprehend social facts. Studies on theNews of the World are mainly involved in the four following aspects: study the News of the World fromthe perspective of the right to privacy and journalistic ethics. Study the News of the World from theperspective of history and provide incomplete historical facts of the News of the World. Study the Newsof the World from the perspective of journalistic professionalism. Study the News of the World from theperspective of political economy of communication and analyze its parent company News Corporation.For instance, some research mainly focuses on business strategies of News Corporation.Commercial media are analyzed from the perspective of political economy of communication inpart two. Firstly, the News of the World and its parent company News Corporation are analyzed from theperspective of political economy of communication. The history and commercial business strategies ofNews Corporation and the News of the World are mainly analyzed. Secondly, the use and developmentof new media of News Corporation in the environment of more market competition are presented. Howtraditional media, such as the News of the World try to make profits in new media environment are alsostudied in this part. For example, what strategies they adopt in order to make profits are analyzed.The theme of this paper is interpreted in part three. The historical and realistic reasons ofphone-hacking scandal of the News of the World are analyzed. Privately-owned and commercially-runwere two main reasons of phone-hacking scandal of the News of the World. Pursuing profits is thepurpose of operation of commercially-run media. Illegal action may be taken to gain information bytabloids so as to make profits. Run as a tabloid was also a reason that caused phone-hacking scandal ofthe News of the World. Tabloids try to get information in all sorts of ways. While phone-hacking is an effective way of gaining information, especially privacy of people. To cater to taste of the public, certainmedia may provide vulgar contents and they may break the law.