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News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned
subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of the American mass media
conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...
News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
. It is the current publisher of '' The Times'', '' The Sunday Times'', and '' The Sun'' newspapers; its former publications include the '' Today'', ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'', and ''
The London Paper ''The London Paper'' (stylised as ''thelondonpaper'') was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International (who also own the companies that publish '' The Sun'' and ''The Times''). It was available fr ...
'' newspapers. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc.The Times Online Style Guide
– see entry for News International for change from plc to Ltd
On 31 May 2011, the company name was changed from News International Limited to NI Group Limited, and on 26 June 2013 to News UK.


History

Between 1987 and 1995, News International owned, through its subsidiary News (UK) Ltd, '' Today'', the first UK national newspaper to be printed in colour. All of News International's newspapers (with the exception of ''
The London Paper ''The London Paper'' (stylised as ''thelondonpaper'') was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International (who also own the companies that publish '' The Sun'' and ''The Times''). It was available fr ...
'', launched in 2006) were founded by other owners, in some cases hundreds of years ago. In October 2005, News International sold TSL Education, publisher of '' Times Higher Education'', '' Times Educational Supplement'', and other education titles, for £235m ($415m). '' The Times Literary Supplement'', previously part of TSL Education, was retained by News International as part of the deal. Darwin Ltd, which had taken over the company, continued to produce the same product.


Phone hacking allegations

In July 2009, '' The Guardian'', a newspaper owned by Guardian Media Group, reported that News Group Newspapers paid in excess of £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal News Group journalists' use on repeated occasions of illegal methods in the pursuit of stories. It has been alleged that News Group staff were accused of engaging in phone hacking, including
Clive Goodman Clive Goodman (born 17 September 1957, in Hammersmith, London) is an English journalist, former royal editor and reporter for the ''News of the World''. He was arrested in August 2006 and jailed in January 2007 for News International phone hacking ...
, illegally accessed voicemail for the mobile phones of thousands of public figures, including politicians and celebrities. Goodman was jailed in 2007 for tapping the mobile phones of three members of the royal staff; this is an offence under the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ( c.23) (RIP or RIPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of comm ...
. It was stated by News International at the time that Goodman had acted without its knowledge, and that no other
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
journalists made use of such methods. The evidence uncovered by ''The Guardian'' showed that many more figures were in fact the subject of phone-taps, including Nigella Lawson, Lenny Henry,
Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...
, John Prescott, Boris Johnson, and Tessa Jowell. In 2008, the ''News of the World'' paid in excess of £400,000 in damages to Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, who was suing the newspaper for its involvement in the illegal interception of messages to his mobile phone. According to ''The Guardian'', this payment, made in exchange for Taylor's silence, "prevented the public from knowing anything about the hundreds of pages of evidence which had been disclosed in Taylor's case". In contrast to News International's earlier denials of knowledge, ''The Guardian'' cites suppressed evidence revealing that ''News of the World''s editorial staff were involved with private investigators who engaged in illegal phone-hacking, and that both reporters and executives were commissioning purchases of confidential information; this is illegal unless it is shown to be in the public interest. Apparently these activities were well known within the ''News of the World'', being "openly paid for by the accounts department with invoices which itemised illegal acts". The paperwork was alleged to show the above occurred during the tenure of
Andy Coulson Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. Coulson was the editor of the ''News of the World'' from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's repo ...
, who was chief press advisor to
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, leader of the UK's
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, until his resignation on 21 January 2011. On 4 July, ''The Guardian'' reported that a private investigator at the ''News of the World'' had hacked into the phone of murdered teenager
Milly Dowler Milly is a feminine given name, sometimes used as a short form (hypocorism) of Mildred, Amelia, Emily, etc. It may refer to: People * Milly Alcock (born 2000), Australian actress * Milly Babalanda (born 1970), Ugandan politician * Milly Bern ...
, causing both her parents and police investigating her murder to wrongly believe she was still alive. This occurred during the period that Rebekah Brooks (''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Wade) was editor. On 7 July, British newspaper '' The Daily Telegraph'' alleged that the families of dead British service personnel were targeted by private investigators working for the ''News of the World''. This led to The Royal British Legion severing ties with the paper until such allegations are proved false. On the same day, James Murdoch announced the ''News of the World'' would be shut down after the publication of one more edition on 10 July 2011, due to the allegations. The newspaper had already been faced with the withdrawal of a number of sponsors which had advertised their products and services in the newspaper, not to mention the inevitable fall in sales that the newspaper would have faced had it remained in circulation. On 15 July, Rebekah Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International. She commented thus on her departure:


Rebekah Brooks £10m payout

'' The Guardian'' newspaper, citing official company accounts, claims Brooks received a £10.8m payoff for leaving News International.


Brooks reappointed as CEO

In September 2015, Brooks was reappointed as CEO of the company, now named News UK.


Operations

The company's major titles are published by subsidiary companies, Times Newspapers Ltd and News Group Newspapers. Until 2010, these newspapers were written at a large site in Wapping in
east London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
, near Tower Hill, which earned the nickname "
Fortress Wapping The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986. Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production was ...
" after a fierce dispute with the union to which the workforce had previously belonged. The printing of the papers is now undertaken at plants in
Waltham Cross Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey to the east, and Enfield to the south ...
, Knowsley, and Lanarkshire (the latter said by Rupert Murdoch, on the plant's opening in 2007, to be "the largest and fastest print press in the world"). The News Building, where all of News UK's London operations are based, was opened on 16 September 2014 by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.


Times Newspapers Ltd

Times Newspapers Limited publishes the
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
daily newspaper '' The Times'' and the broadsheet '' The Sunday Times''. Times Newspapers was formed in 1967 when the Thomson Corporation purchased ''The Times'' from the Astor family and merged it with ''The Sunday Times'', which it had owned since 1959. The company was purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News International in February 1981. The acquisition followed an intense 21 days of negotiations with the print unions, conducted by John Collier and Bill O'Neill. '' The Times Literary Supplement'', '' Times Educational Supplement'' and '' Times Higher Education Supplement'' were also part of the group; the latter two publications have since been sold. An American edition of ''The Times'' was launched in New York City, Boston and some other East Coast U.S. cities in 2006. Rupert Murdoch has stated that the law and the independent board prevent him from exercising editorial control. However, an article in '' The Spectator'' following the resignation of James Harding stated that the trust has "never played much of a role in the 30 years Murdoch has owned the paper", and suggested that Murdoch had pressurised Harding to resign.


News Group Newspapers Ltd

News Group Newspapers Ltd publishes the tabloid newspaper '' The Sun''. The ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'' was another tabloid newspaper owned by the company; however, its closure was announced on 7 July 2011, following new evidence about a
phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...
at the newspaper. The final issue was released on 10 July 2011. The ''News of the World'' was purchased by Murdoch in January 1969. ''The Sun'' was acquired in October 1969 from
International Publishing Corporation TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its tit ...
. Murdoch states that he acts as a "traditional proprietor"; exercising editorial control on major issues, such as which political party to back in a general election or policy on Europe.


NI Free Newspapers Limited

''
The London Paper ''The London Paper'' (stylised as ''thelondonpaper'') was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International (who also own the companies that publish '' The Sun'' and ''The Times''). It was available fr ...
'' was the first newspaper to be launched by News International rather than bought. It was an evening freesheet distributed at bus and rail stations in London. It was published five days a week from September 2006 to September 2009, when it closed down, faced with competition from other free papers.


Wireless Group Limited

In 2016, News UK acquired Wireless Group Limited, the operator of a number of radio stations across the United Kingdom and Ireland.


TalkTV

In December 2020,
Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
granted a licence to News UK & Ireland Limited to operate a new television channel on satellite and cable (not to be confused with Andrew Neil's GB News, which is a separate news channel launched in June 2021). News UK TV was then overseen by David Rhodes, who was previously a Fox News executive and president of
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
. Unlike GB News, News UK TV is not expected to take up a slot on
Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...
with its nightly programming (expected to be a few hours a night, according to Andrew Neil on BBC Radio 4's '' The Media Show'', 12 March 2021) being streamed via a number of platforms. In April 2021, News UK CEO Rebekah Brooks announced that plans for the new service had been much reduced, as a British equivalent of Fox was considered unviable, and programming would only be available via streaming. David Rhodes is to return to the United States in June. In September 2021, a few days after Neil resigned as chairman of rival GB News, it was reported that the News UK's channel would now be called TalkTV (after the radio stations TalkRadio and talkSport) and that Piers Morgan would be a presenter on the new service. In addition, News UK have decided that TalkTV would be available on FreeSat, Freeview,
Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
and Virgin Media (if slots can be acquired by the company) and that the channel would feature current affairs documentaries, programmes about sport and entertainment features.


Other

* News International (Advertisements) Limited *
News International Associated Services Limited News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...
* News International Distribution Limited * News Ireland * News Printers (Knowsley) Limited * News Printers (Scotland) Limited * News International Pension Trustees Limited * News International Supply Company Limited * News International Television Investment Company Limited * News International Television Limited * NI Syndication Limited * The Fifth – Influencer Marketing Agency


See also

*
Metropolitan police role in phone hacking scandal Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...
*
News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,00 ...
* News International phone hacking scandal * Phone hacking scandal reference lists * List of companies based in London


References


External links


News UK
{{Authority control British companies established in 1981 Publishing companies established in 1981 Newspaper companies of the United Kingdom News Corporation subsidiaries