Murdoch backs U.K. exec amid hacking scandal

LONDON - Britain's tabloid News of the World is signing off with a simple front page message: THANK YOU & GOODBYE.

The tabloid's on Saturday is printing its last edition after an expanding phone-hacking scandal brought fresh revelations of impropriety - and an announcement this week that the muckraking newspaper, first published 168 years ago, would shuts its doors.

The final issue hits newsstands on Sunday.

Meanwhile the paper's owner, media baron Rupert Murdoch, has expressed his full support for the head of his U.K. newspaper division amid continuing fallout from the expanding phone-hacking scandal.

Many journalists and media watchers have expressed astonishment that Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of News of the World when some of the hacking allegedly occurred, was keeping her job even as the paper's journalists are put out of work.

When asked by reporters Saturday in Sun Valley, Idaho - where he is attending a media conference - if Brooks continues to have his support, Murdoch replied simply: "Total."

"We already apologized," he said. "We've been let down by people ... the paper let down its readers."

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Writing the obituary for their own newspaper, News of the World's journalists prepared their final edition Saturday amid the expanding phone-hacking scandal.

Small clues gave the tone of the London newsroom away — from a commemorative T-shirt bearing a "Goodbye, cruel News of the World, I'm leaving you today" worn by one staffer, to editors typing tributes to the tabloid's journalistic victories into newspaper text boxes.

Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire owns the paper, will arrive in London on Sunday on a scheduled visit, a person familiar with his itinerary told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He is facing a maelstrom of criticism and outrage over the sequence of events set off by allegations the paper's journalists paid police for information and hacked into the voicemails of young murder victims and the grieving families of dead soldiers.

The recent revelations culminated in the decision to close the paper and put 200 journalists out of work.

The paper's editor, Colin Myler, offered words of encouragement and sympathy to his staff on a "very difficult day."

"It's not where we want to be and it's not where we deserve to be," he said in a memo to staff seen by Britain's Press Association. "But I know we will produce a paper to be proud of."

The contents of the front page were privy to "only a special few," according to Helen Moss, a news and features editor who offered refreshments to journalists camped outside the tabloid's headquarters in a bizarre death watch of sorts.

"I expect it'll be a massive tribute to 168 years of history ending today," she said, describing an "extremely emotional" newsroom.

Much of the emotion continued to focus on News International — a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp. — which took the decision to jettison the paper on Thursday after the new allegations sparked a firestorm of public outrage and prompted the tabloid's advertisers pull out en masse.

The closure was seen by some as a desperate attempt by the media conglomerate to stem negative fallout and thus save its 12 billion-pound ($19 billion) deal to take over satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.

But the British government has signaled that deal will be delayed because of the crisis and the scandal has continued to unfold with the announcement of three arrests linked to the matter on Friday.

Andy Coulson — a former News of the World editor and ex-communications chief to Prime Minister David Cameron — was arrested Friday, as was Clive Goodman, an ex-News of the World royal reporter, and an unidentified 63-year-old man. All three have since been released on bail.

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The developments have turned up the heat on Britain's media industry amid concerns a police investigation won't stop with the News of the World.

It has also cast new scrutiny on the cozy relationship between British politicians and the powerful Murdoch empire, putting the media baron's company on the defensive.

Many journalists and media watchers have expressed astonishment that Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of News of the World when some of the hacking allegedly occurred, was keeping her job at head of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper operations while the paper's 200 employees were laid off.

Upping the ante, the Church of England threatened to pull nearly 4 million pounds of investments from News Corp. "if does not hold senior executives to account ... for the gross failures of management at the News of the World."

The church's ethical investment advisory group said Sunday it wrote to News Corp. saying closing News of the World was not a "sufficient response" to the "utterly reprehensible and unethical" practices uncovered at the tabloid.

Murdoch has opted to remain largely silent amid the fallout, issuing one official statement that made clear Brooks would remain at the helm.

He spoke briefly to reporters in Sun Valley, Idaho on Saturday, where he was attending a media conference. When asked whose decision it was to close the paper he said, "It was a collective decision."

His son, James, has been the public face of the scandal — announcing the News of the World's closure and acknowledging mistakes over the years in addressing indiscretions.