Insatiable desire for seediness drove the Murdoch scandal

The telephone hacking fiasco has highlighted one of the many problems of our society which is now almost out of control.

The demise and closure of the News of the World is timely, but one has to ask why this publication has managed to become the largest circulation Sunday newspaper which owes its success to the peddling of scandal, tittle-tattle and antics of the so-called celebs, footballers and politicians.

It is due to the almost insatiable desire of the public to wallow in the seedier side of life, and which is now so prevalent in all sections of society. This phenomena is indicative of the decline of standards in our society where we are exposed to constant muck-raking by the Press and media who have a field day exposing our corrupt politicians, for example, and a society which expounds political correctness, freedom of expression and behaviour, a weak/liberal justice system and the decline of influence.

For example, take the Church of England and our dumbing down of educational standards and behaviour. But how do we get off this treadmill and return to common sense and integrity?

From: John Byars, Manor Farm Drive, Leeds.

THE revealing of the phone hacking activities of some newspaper journalists has made it possible for our society to look at a wide range of issues with new eyes.

The first interesting statement that came out recently was that our MPs had been threatened in some shape or form to back off from seeking a proper investigation into the matter by a person or persons from the newspaper industry. The question here is, who governs the country?

Secondly, some of the so-called news that the journalists were looking for was “scandal” of some sort or another. How is it that the public are buying newspapers that rely on this trivia?

From: Kendal Wilson, Wharfebank Terrace, Tadcaster.

We have a huge problem in the shape of politicians’ influence upon the tabloid media directives.

They ignore real issues, instead preferring to dwell on baiting public sector workers against private ones, spying on your neighbours who may have lost their job and then been instantly stigmatised, the stirring of class wars and the promoting of the ascendancy of the chav millionaires.

So let us be thankful we have the Yorkshire Post, with quality pages of well-informed and unbiased journalism.

From: Barrie Frost, Watson’s Lane, Reighton, Filey.

RUPERT Murdoch said on Sunday that the employment of News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was secure, even though she was a former editor of the News of the World. He said that he would not throw innocent people under the bus.

Hasn’t he done exactly this to the large majority of very decent, totally innocent, hard-working journalists and employees of the News of the World who have lost their jobs?

Don’t these people warrant the same level of concern shown to Rebekah Brooks?

Does Mr Murdoch feel these people are expendable, for he seems to have had no conscience about throwing all of them under the bus?

From: Malcolm Lamb, Leeds (South and East) Centre Manager, Christians Against Poverty, c/o Bridge Street Pentecostal Church, Leeds.

SO much has been heard about poor journalism with the phone hacking scandal of the News of the World.

While this issue is not to be belittled, it is worth saying, how many of us actually appreciate good journalism when we see it?

How many of us have thanked reporters who often work long and dedicated hours to serve their community newspapers.

Challenged by this thought, we’d like to take the opportunity to publicly appreciate reporters who have always been so straightforward to deal with; their writing has been free of errors and they have been nothing but supportive of the free debt counselling service we offer in Leeds.

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

SURELY the time has come for the Home Secretary to step in and call in the UK Border Agency to escort Rupert Murdoch and his family out of this country as undesirables. It is done in the US, Murdoch’s adopted country.