Bad news for The Simpsons‘s corporate parent’s corporate parent: it turns out people get mad when tabloids hack into their phones! Over the past decade, some News Corp.-owned UK tabloids have hacked, or at least have tried to hack, into the phones of former prime minister Gordon Brown, 9/11 & 7/7 victims, and the families of dead soldiers. Journalism! Once it was revealed that News of the World had hacked into a dead girl’s voicemail – and even deleted some her messages to make room for more – the newspaper was shut down this week after 168 years of publication, nearly half the lifespan of The Simpsons.
It’s not looking good for News Corp. CEO and billionaire tyrant Rupert Murdoch, who ran away from one of his own employees last week, and whose son James, the heir apparent who oversees the corporation’s British newspapers, is now in the hot seat. The scandal has put a damper in The Rupe’s plans to take over British Sky Broadcasting, which have been put on hold. He managed to weather other scandals, will he weather this one? Or will he be put in jail, as “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming” foretold? [New York Times]