Leading article: A newspaper's closure does not end the hacking scandal

Even in the depths of a crisis, Rupert Murdoch's flair for the dramatic never deserts him. Yesterday's announcement that the News of the World, the newspaper at the centre of the phone-hacking scandal, is to be closed down was as sensational as any of the stories the scandal sheet has carried on its front page in its 168-year history.

On the face of it, this represents an astonishing capitulation. The News of the World has the largest circulation of any publication in the English-speaking world. It was also Mr Murdoch's first newspaper acquisition on these shores, his bridgehead onto the British media back in 1969. Some wondered yesterday whether they were hearing the first sounds of a mighty empire crumbling.