Tag Archives: news of the world

Sacked staff use cryptic crossword to call Rebekah Brooks a “tart”

8:29am Mon July 11th

When senior Daily Express hack Stephen Pollard left the paper in 2001 after it was acquired by pornographer Richard Desmond, he used a report on farming to spell out the phrase ”Fuck you, Desmond” with the first letter of each sentence. No surprise, then, that Rebekah Brooks demanded staff outside News of the World editorial screen the final edition of the rag for hidden messages inserted by soon-to-be-redundant staff

A report in The Guardian suggests that the crossword may have been overlooked. While sources close to Brooks have told Andrew Neil that she genuinely fears a spell in jail, clues include:

“Mix in prison”
“Will fear new security measure”

While hints for the quickie puzzle include

“Brook”
“Stink”
“Catastrophe”
“Criminal enterprise”

Hacks continued to articulate their anger in the answers:

tart
deplored
stench
disaster
menace
racket
desist
firewall [a reference to the internet security measures introduced to prevent staff leaking information from the newsroom]

Several News Corporation executives may yet have more time than they bargained for to complete cryptic crosswords (at Her Majesty’s pleasure).

What you won’t be reading in tomorrow’s Sun

9:21pm Fri July 8th

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Well, they both have red hair.

British Gas sneaks out price hike during Cameron press conference

11:11am Fri July 8th

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British Gas, one of only four companies left advertising in this week’s News of the World when it was axed, has announced an 18% increase in fuel prices.

Spotting a fine opportunity to bury bad news, the energy company whispered out an announcement during David Cameron’s News of the World press conference.

Just yesterday British Gas was fined £1m by Ofgem for “misreporting” the amount of energy it had supplied from renewable sources. According to parent company Centrica, British Gas profits rose 24% last year to £742m.

Domestic gas prices will rise by an average of 18%, and electricity by 16% from 18th August. Just in time for what will likely be an extremely cold winter, especially for the poor and elderly.

Of course, if they don’t mind being associated with hacking murdered teenagers’ phones, they won’t mind a few freezing grannies.

The Times: online boycott campaign led to “catastrophic collapse”

9:11am Fri July 8th

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With NOTW’s broadsheet stablemate highlighting the impact of the advertiser boycott campaign, it looks like News International and the online left finally have something to agree on.

Progressive digital campaign made life impossible for advertisers

6:58pm Thu July 7th

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With the closure of the News of the World sending shockwaves across the media establishment, Political Scrapbook is proud to have played a significant role in making life impossible for those companies that wanted to advertise with Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid.

In concert with Liberal Conspiracy, we were at the forefront of efforts to hit the dead-schoolgirl-hacking newspaper where it hurts: in the pocket. Hitting the phones to dozens of companies, our rolling live blog became the document of reference for the advertiser boycott of the paper. We were repeatedly contacted by corporate communications departments asking us to update our list to reflect their softening lines and U-turns.

This campaign culminated today with a relentless focus on the paper’s biggest spending advertisers, which were besieged by hundrends of complaints using our digital campaign tool which went live at midday. It wasn’t long before we received pleading emails asking us to call off the digital dogs.

Late this afternoon, Brand Republic reported that all advertising had been dropped after the tally of backers was reduced to just four. Thirty minutes later Rupert Murdoch pulled the plug.

But while we’ll enjoy this evening we won’t be losing perspective.

Plans are well underway for News of the World Mk II — with Rebekah Brooks still pulling the strings.

Downfall: Rupert Murdoch learns of hacking scandal in his bunker

4:25pm Thu July 7th

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Not quite safe for work.

But probably funny enough to be worth getting fired for.

More News of the World advertisers withdraw as pressure mounts

11:02am Thu July 7th

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N Power and EasyJet are just the latest in the mass exodus of advertisers away from the News of the World.

Yesterday, the Co-op performed the first high profile U-Turn, reversing their position in response to a growing campaign of disappointed customers and members. Boots too shifted from a “no comment” to an “awaiting more information” position, noting that they “listen to their customers carefully.”

Morrisons have softened their position, but not a lot. Speaking to Political Scrapbook this morning they confirmed that while they didn’t have any advertising in this Sunday’s paper, they didn’t have any planned in the first place.

All day yesterday they stood firmly behind the rag, telling us: “Our position is very clear. We will continue to advertise in the News of the Wold.”

Similarly, Procter & Gamble, who own big brands including Clairol, Max Factor and Pringles, said today that while they have no advertising in this weekend’s paper, they do have advertising in the pull out magazine, Fabulous. This was unavoidable, as the magazine has already been printed.

P&G’s advertising spend in the NOTW was estimated to be £1.3m from January to May 2011. They continue to “consider their options.”

So far public pressure, be it on Twitter, Facebook or by phone and email, has caused 21 companies to distance themselves from the Screws in a little over 24 hours. We expect many more to move from the “Considering our position list” to the “Out” list over the course of today, and you can follow developments at our live-updated list.

The one list nobody wants to be on will be drawn up on Sunday morning, when we’ll know who isn’t bothered about having their brands associated with hacking the phones of murdered teenagers and victims of terrorism.

As it stands the only business definitely on that list is….BSkyB

News Of The World boycott live blog: Which advertisers are out?

9:39am Wed July 6th

101 comments

UPDATE: Oh my God, we killed the News of the World. James Murdoch has announced that not only will this Sunday’s paper carry no commercial advertising, it will also be the last issue.

UPDATE: In an unprecedented move, the News of the World have announced that they have pulled all advertising from this Sunday’s edition. BrandRepublic reports that just four of their main advertisers remained, Sky, British Gas, Mars and Tesco.

—–

With allegations of wrongdoing piling up hour after hour, most, if not all News of the World advertisers will be considering their positions. Do they really want to have their beloved brands associated with the hacking of the telephones of dead children?

Still advertising with NOTW

Out

Ford
Renault (“no advertising planned”)
Cadbury’s (“no advertising planned”)
Mumsnet (Have removed all Sky advertising from their site)
NatWest (‘Won’t be advertising in the next issue”)
Coca Cola
The Body Shop
Debenhams (“No plans to advertise with NOTW. Like everyone we are watching the developing situation very closely”)
Marks & Spencers (“No plans to advertise”)
Lloyds Banking Group
Vauxhall
Virgin Holidays
Halifax
Co-operative (after U-turn)
Aldi
TalkTalk (“no advertising planned”)
Mitsubishi
Bourne Leisure (Butlins and Haven resorts)
Dog’s Trust
EasyJet (“Whilst we have advertised in the News of the World in the past we have no current plans to do so” – hat tip to @rotty_boy)
N Power
Royal British Legion (Dropped NOTW as a campaigning partner, and “reviewing their ad budget” with News International)
Sainsbury’s
DFS (First of the top ten NOTW advertisers to withdraw, estimated spend of £608,000 for Jan-May 2011)
O2 (Another of the top ten, and the first communications company to pull. Estimated spend of £1.2m. CEO Ronan Dunne says “ While the situation unfolds, we will not be purchasing advertising in News of the World.)
Shopdirect (Top ten, estimated spend of £640,000)
ASDA (While they were in the top 10 according to the Guardian, ASDA told us they had greatly reduced their ad spend to around £32k)
Boots (Top ten, estimated spend of £900,000)
L’Oreal (An advert will appear in the Fabulous supplement in this Sunday’s paper which has already been printed, but they have no plans to advertise beyond that)
Nivea (As above, will be in this weekends Fabulous, but nothing planned after that.)
Dixons Retail (Currys, PC World – withdrawing advertising “until further notice”)
Virgin Media (Withdrawing all advertising “for the foreseeable future” – statement to follow shortly)
Specsavers
Reckitt Benckiser (Cillit Bang, Calgon, Air Wick, Durex)
Dairy Crest
Eon (No plans to advertise)
B&Q (No plans to advertise – hat tip for this and Eon to @stu2308)

“Considering their position”

T-Mobile
Orange
Vodafone (“monitoring developments closely”)
Procter & Gamble (“concerned” and “reviewing their position”)
First Choice
Boots has shifted from a “no comment” line to “We do listen to our customers and will be carefully reviewing and monitoring customers’ views on these allegations before making any decisions”
Morrisons (Won’t be advertising this week, but didn’t plan to anyway. Still “awaiting more information” before they’ll pull out completely.
The UK Government (According to Commons leader Sir George Young, the Government will “urgently review” its advertising contracts with the News of the World

Also, comedian Dave Gorman has quit his regular column with the News of the World. Gorman’s management company, Avalon, confirmed to comedy news website Chortle, that “Dave won’t be continuing the column.”

Political Scrapbook will keep its ear to the ground, and will keep these lists updated as the story develops.

Tag Archives: news of the world

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