The News of the World will cease publication on Sunday after 168 years.

'News International today announces that this Sunday, 10 July 2011, will be the last issue of the News of the World,' read the statement from Rupert Murdoch's son James, who heads the British newspaper arm of News Corp.

'The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account, but it failed when it came to itself.'

History

  • The News of the World was founded by John Browne Bell. The first edition of the paper was published on October 1, 1843, in broadsheet format.
  • It is part of News Group Newspapers, a subsidiary of News International, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
  • The newspaper is generally considered to have a centre-right political stance, but it supported the Labour Party under Tony Blair for his three UK election wins (1997, 2001 and 2005.)
  • It was launched with the statement 'Our motto is truth, our practice is the fearless advocacy of the truth'.
  • The News of the World was initially sold at the low and affordable price of three pence. The aim was to secure circulation amongst the poor, as well as the rich, given that the working classes were newly literate as a result of Victorian education reforms.
  • The Carr family had a long association with the News of the World. In 1891, the newspaper was acquired by a syndicate including Lascelles Carr, the editor and part-proprietor of the Western Mail newspaper in Cardiff.
  • It became the world's biggest-selling English-language newspaper under the Carr ownership and had an average circulation of 8,441,966 copies in 1950.
  • It merged with The Empire News on October 23, 1960. The Empire News was a Sunday newspaper for citizens of the British Empire or Commonwealth, with a circulation of more than 2.5 million copies.

The Murdoch Era

  • Rupert Murdoch bought the News of the World in 1969.
  • Developments in the 1980s included 'Sunday', the first colour magazine to be published alongside the newspaper in September 1981.
  • The paper changed from broadsheet to tabloid format on May 20, 1984.
  • Wendy Henry became the first female editor of the paper in 1987.
  • The closure comes after a growing raft of revelations about phone hacking involving the News of the World.
  • The News of the World had a circulation of 2.6 million in April 2011.