After years of scandal after scandal, the News of The World seized publication amid its own home made scandal. For 168 years, they have entertained us and annoyed all forms of celebrities but on this occasion, the route to inform us has led to their untimely departure.
Their untimely departure is well received by most of their amassed victims from over the years. I am wondering how jubilant Wayne Rooney or Fergie would be right now but the people who would suffer the most are the 500 direct and indirect staffs that have been let go from the unscrupulous act of a small niche of staff.
Rupert has been an idol of mine for many years now, right from his meteoric rise from Australia up till some few days ago. His action just to save a deal has shown us what the Ruthless Rupert is capable of. He would rather 500 jobs go than his deal to purchase the remaining 61% of BSkyB to go south or be delayed. So many acts in these last few days have really shown us that his team of managers and advisors are just a couple of thick figure heads without much strategy to figure out.
There are various strategies that could have been executed to save the News of the World, the 500 jobs and also the deal to purchase the remainder of BSkyB but every 'strategic' decision turned out to be dumber than the act that led them here in the first place.
Firstly, why wasn't Rebekah Brooks fired? When there is brewing crisis amounting from regular errors under the watch of sloppy management, it is pertinent to note there has been a massive failure in Leadership. The fastest way to gain leadership or assure confidence is to solve problems, Rebekah you were the problem and your ousting would have saved 500 jobs. In many PR disasters, the appropriation of blame to an individual (in leadership) and the subsequent exit of the toxic asset has always been a welcome development to the public. Remember Tony Hayward from BP, once the blame was attributed to Leadership, his subsequent exit was a relief for many people and shareholders which in turn led to lesser BP humiliation and a rise in stock price.
Firing the Leader is seen as a strategic and a strong management decision and is usually welcomed by the public. The Ruthless Rupert failed to see this.
Secondly, the 500 jobs that was let go is just disturbing on every level. They would rather sacrifice 500 jobs than Rebekah Brooks. There is no reason for shutting down the paper apart from the obvious buyout of BSkyB. The backlash now is their strategy to distance The News of The World from BSkyB has failed and now the British Government would ensure bottlenecks are present in the deal and delay it. They have made 500 people jobless just to save face.
If Rupert Murdoch's management team were smart people, a better strategy would have been to firstly fire Rebekah Brooks or accept her resignation, secondly apologise on the paper's front page, thirdly set up an arm in the company to investigate the whole debacle and bring the perpetrators to book and fourthly embark on a PR tour to save their image. Sacrificing 500 jobs because of the unprofessional acts of a small niche is dumb. Now sacrificing 500 jobs just to save a future deal of the Parent company is just beyond stupid.
If the Ruthless Rupert wants to come out of this debacle unscathed, he should integrate the News of the World into the SUN (which he also owns) and rehire every staff he fired. Then the British government might be a bit more lenient in the handling of the BSkyB deal because
as of today, Ed Milliband and the goons would not let this case go to rest. You can be sure the first money saving tip the 500 newly jobless people would embark on is to cancel their SKY Accounts if they haven't already. And on the bright side, the News of The World just set a World Record. Good riddance.
Jide Rotilu is an MTV Award Winner, a Technology Strategist, a UI Developer at hallmarkmemories.com and a comedy sketch writer.