The sun is setting on The Sun

James Murdoch threw the future of News International into doubt yesterday by suggesting that The Sun might be closed down if it is dragged into the phone hacking scandal. Giving evidence to MPs, Mr Murdoch, who closed the News of the World in July, said he could not rule out closing The Sun or any other publication if it was found to have broken the law. I don't blame him, but I don't recommend divesting an entire empire over this whole mess. Of course closing down a tabloid will stop any more controversy from the publications in question, but it's not a permanent solution because there will still be more newspapers to get in on the act. Instead of closing a news source, they could always just fire the whole staff and relaunch the errant paper under a different title or logo. And besides, I don't read papers - like any other unemployed 23-year-old male virgin, I get my news from the Web.