The News of the World will shut down after the Sunday edition amidst accusations that its reporters hacked into the cell phones of various crime victims.
After 168 years, the Sunday edition will be the last issue of the News of the World, edited by Colin Myler, James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer at News Corporation and chairman of News International, said in a statement.
"The good things the News of the World does ... have been sullied by behaviour that was wrong. Indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company," Murdoch said. "We will run no commercial advertisements this weekend. Any advertising space in this last edition will be donated to causes and charities that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers."
Earlier this week, the News of the World was accused of hacking into the voicemail of a young murder victim while the investigation into her disappearance was still ongoing. The paper allegedly deleted voicemail messages, giving her parents false hope that she was alive and accessing her phone. The Daily Telegraph later reported that the newspaper also hacked the phones of family members whose relatives were killed or injured in the July 7, 2005 London bombings. There were also reports that the paper paid off London police officers for information.
Complicating the matter was the fact that this was not the paper's first offense. In April, the paper issued an apology for voicemail hacks that took place between 2004 and 2006.
Today, Murdoch said the News of the World and News International, its publisher, "failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose."
"As a result, the News of the World and News International wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter," he continued. "We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences."
The police are currently conducting two investigations into the phone hacking, dubbed Operation Weeting and Operation Elveden, and Murdoch pledged his full cooperation.
Murdoch acknowledged that the move might seem unfair to current staffers, many of whom were not at the paper when the alleged phone hackings occurred. "I do not want the legitimacy of what you do to be compromised by acts of others," he said. "I want all journalism at News International to be beyond reproach."
In an earlier statement posted on the News of the World Web site, meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch said the phone hacking incidents were "deplorable and unacceptable."
For more, see How Did News of the World Hack Victims' Cell Phones?