Another wound for journalistic integrity

It’s a banner headline that the Brits thought they would never read. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it’s all true.

What started as one or two reporters’ egregious actions to hack into private voicemail accounts of celebrities and sports and government figures in an attempt to uncover scoops have blown the newsroom wide open.

On Thursday, the newspaper said in a shocking announcement that its final edition would be on Sunday. This morning comes word that Andy Coulson, the paper’s former editor who had served as communications director for Prime Minister David Cameron, had been arrested and held for questioning in the phone-hacking scandal.

And maybe it doesn’t even stop there.

Now there are questions of whether the scandal spreads to News Corp., parent of the News of the World, and other noteworthy publications such as The Wall Street Journal. The media empire is, of course, run by Rupert Murdoch.