Isn't this rather the point?
>>>>It doesn't matter how the press is governed, we now know (or rather, have proof, we always knew) the lengths that some journalists will go to for a story.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"We always knew..." Which is surely the point. Everyone knows that the tabloids use some pretty unpleasant (if not illegal) methods to get their stories. Most of which are gossip about (relatively) inoffensive celebrities. And the ones who buy the tabloids clearly don't care.
When Princess Diana died, there were waves of anti-press outrage. "They killed the queen of all our hearts" type of thing. Sales dropped for a couple of days, but then they went up. As people wanted the tabloids to tell them exactly how much they ought to be outraged. And at the Queen for not flying the flag at half-mast, rather than the tabloids...
I don't think most of those people stopped believing that the tabloids were partly to blame (true or not), but decided they liked the stories more.
I think it's only the Scousers who had the self-discipline to make it stick, and keep on bearing a grudge. Sun sales collapsed totally in Liverpool after their Hillsborough 'Scum' headline, and I don't think they've got them back even now.
My highly scientific poll of 5 estate agents, had 2 being NotW readers. Both were planning to carry on buying it, one didn't see why not, and the other was outraged at the voicemail 'hacking', but still thought they did great investigative journalism otherwise. Eeek! Unless there's much worse to come out, I'm sure they could have survived as the biggest selling UK paper. I'm sure they were closed down to protect the Sky deal, which is worth far more.