Murdoch to Close News of the World

ABC News reports:

Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate announced today that it is closing down 168-year-old News of the World, Britain's biggest Sunday tabloid currently embroiled in an intensifying scandal over alleged phone hacking of celebrities, families of terror victims and a murdered girl.

James Murdoch, who heads News International's European operations, said the paper will publish its last edition Sunday.

Murdoch told the staff that the paper's good deeds "have been sullied by behavior that was wrong; indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company.

"The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself," James Murdoch, Rupert's son, said. "Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued."

Murdoch said the final edition will be ad free, with profits donated to charity. "These are strong measures. They are made humbly and out of respect. I am convinced they are the right thing to do," he said.