James Murdoch in the dock over phone hacks?

Best headline about the sudden shutting of the British tabloid News of the World has got to be this one: Goodbye, Cruel World!
The humor is black and the situation bleak. Now we know exactly why the British journalists call themselves "hacks"!
The fallout is mounting- after two arrests, Prime Minister David Cameron faced down a room of scornful journalists in a press conference about the scandal and his choice of press secretary despite warnings. Police are blamed for collaborating with the sale of information. (Until this century, most people assumed the NOTW made up most of their quotes from 'a source close to the celebrity.) But now Murdoch's son James may face arrest warrants on both sides of the Atlantic for the hacking of up to 4000 people's phones, and journalists at the 168 year old Sunday redtop lost their jobs - over crimes committed five years back- mostly by others. The red-tressed Rebekah Brooks, the erstwhile editor, handpicked by Piers Morgan and Rupert Murdoch, offered to resign, but has escaped the dragnet so far. Rupert Murdoch is jetting to Britain to deal with the Hack Attack scandal, also dubbed War of 'the World' by the Independent on Sunday.
The final edition of the NOTW newspaper was headlined "Thank you & Goodbye."

Covert hack smacked in DC

Maybe he's not as sly as Nellie Bly (left).
An expose of the lowdown world of Washington DC lobbyists has been greeted with muttering about the writer Ken Silverstein's own journalistic ethics while playing gotcha with the suits. When Howard Kurtz tsk-tsked about webs of deceit in his Washington Post media column, the correspondent for Harper's Magazine explained his side in his former rag, the LA Times. Ken takes a swipe at the cowardice of beltway reporters, many of whom consider themselves part of the establishment these days, and hearkens back to the days of resourceful Nellie Bly, an 1880s ace reporter who once pretended to be insane to get inside and investigate asylum conditions. Harpers stands behind their July-issue slapdown of highly-paid advocates for corrupt regimes.

Kurtz asserted that clandestine stings have not had much approval in high profile US media outlets since the 1970s (Hmmmm- five years ago People magazine reporters would switch wigs and don waiter's uniforms to penetrate celebrity bashes; now the stars accept money for cooperation and product placement.)
Things are rather different in Britain, where Mark Daly of the BBC won kudos for exposing five notorious pedophiles.
And in 2003 the tabloid Daily Mirror exposed security gaps at Buckingham Palace, despite a severe lockdown for a state visit by Bush, by planting a cub reporter among the royal servants.
Mazher Mahmood,pictured at right after Member of Parliament George Galloway unmasked him as the "Fake Sheikh", was considered a stealth weapon by the British red-top News of the World, coloquially known as News of the Screws. More than 100 criminals were exposed through his relentless undercover reporting, as well as revelations of the seamier side of star athletes and some politicians.
But the Fake sheikh came under a cloud after an alleged plot to kidnap "Posh Spice" (mega-footballer's wife, Victoria Beckham) backfired.