STAFF AT the Irish edition of the News of the Worldwere shocked and upset as they left the Dublin offices yesterday.
Employees of the Irish branch of the tabloid paper were yesterday informed by e-mail that the newspaper was to publish its last edition on Sunday. The move resulted from an escalating phone hacking scandal in Britain.
The title’s Irish edition employs 22 full-time staff and 10 others on a part-time basis. Staff did not wish to comment as they left the paper’s city centre office.
However showbusiness editor Eoin Murphy said on Twitter that he was “gutted”. “We are all still in shock but your tweets are much appreciated,” Mr Murphy added.
The closure was described as hitting the newsroom like a “whirlwind” by one News International employee who did not wish to be named.
Informing staff of the closure by e-mail was “particularly shocking” and characterised the contempt with which staff were treated, Séamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists said yesterday.
Irish journalists were being asked to pay the price for the behaviour of an “unethical elite” Mr Dooley said. They were not part of this behaviour and were “collateral damage”, he added.
Some of the 32 Irish staff may be redeployed to the Irish editions of News International publications the Irish Sunor the Sunday Times, he said. The union is not recognised by the newspaper but it would be offering assistance to individual members.
Staff in the Irish office received an e-mail from News Corp’s chairman and deputy chief operating officer James Murdoch yesterday afternoon informing them that Sunday would be the last issue.
“It is only right that you as colleagues at News International are first to hear what I have to say and that you hear it directly from me,” Mr Murdoch said in his e-mail.
“I can understand how unfair these decisions may feel, particularly, for colleagues who will leave the company.
"You may see these changes as a price loyal staff at the News of the Worldare paying for the transgressions of others."
“I do not want the legitimacy of what you do to be compromised by acts of others,” Mr Murdoch’s e-mails added. “I want all journalism at News International to be beyond reproach.”
The News of the Worldis one of the biggest-selling newspapers in the Irish market. Latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation show that it had a circulation of 113,463 in May.
This was the highest sale achieved by a British newspaper in this market and placed it third overall behind the Sunday Independentand the Sunday World, both of which are published by Independent News & Media.
The News of the Worldhas employed some high-profile columnists for its Irish edition. This included signing former taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2009 to write a weekly sports column. The column finished in February this year.