An editor's view : What if the Milly story had a different ending?
The News International story has all been about phone hacking. But that wasn't how it started. Although the original Milly Dowler story mentioned her cellphone messages, that was almost by-the-way. The News of the World was seeking a feel-good story that never happened.
Rupert Murdoch’s US flagship newspaper said the £3 million settlement “would represent a big financial hit for an episode that produced very little for News of the World in terms of the kind of salacious scoops the paper coveted."
There's more than a hint of broadsheet superiority there. The Milly Dowler story as envisioned by the News of the World would not have been “a salacious scoop”. It would have been a genuine feel-good story. The public would have applauded.
The WSJ recalled how it reprinted last month the Milly Dowler stories actually carried by the News of the World on April 14th, 2002. The paper was edited at the time by Rebekah Wade; her deputy was Andy Coulson.
The early edition story, including Scotland , talked about a "Milly Hoax" in which a job offer in the Midlands was sent to the missing girl's mobile phone. The story was openly based on messages from the missing teenager’s cellphone.
The News of the World informed the police (!) who said said they were"intrigued" - but revealed that the caller might be a deranged woman hoaxer who had hampered other police investigations.
No-one seems to have asked how the paper got the cellphone messages. The messages are quoted again in a timetable at the foot of the page.
Ever the good citizen, the paper even asks the public , "If you have information call Surrey Police on 01372 471 212 ."
In later editions the story changes. It becomes "Missing Milly 'hoax' outrage." It's all about the mystery woman said to have posed as a job-seeking Milly. There is only a passing reference to the cellphone. Who ordered the changes to the story is not revealed by the WSJ. Were there editorial doubts about the prominence given to Milly's mobile?
What wasn't in the published stories was that in the week before publication , the News of the World had scrambled at least eight reporters and photographers to an Epson ink-cartridge factory in the Midlands .
Improbably, said the WSJ, the NotW news desk had reason to believe that the 13-year-old had run away from home and got a job with Epson.
The paper had a voice-mail message, apparently intercepted from her phone, suggesting she worked there.
The hope was that, "When Milly Dowler clocked off work, we would be there outside the gates," said one journalist involved in the three-day stakeout. "We could say, 'There you are, Milly, the whole world has been looking for you.' "
The journalists were only told there had been a tip-off . No mention of cellphone hacking. Some of the eight doubted that Milly could possibly be working at Epson: after all, she was only 13.
The Milly Dowler case, said the Journal, was "the kind of news event that fell squarely in the sweet spot" for the News of the World. The sweet spot would, I suppose, be caring for kids.
Two years earlier, the paper had led a campaign that led to legislation protecting children against convicted pedophiles.
In the News of the World of April 14, 2002, There was no mention of the Epson stakeout, only a short report on the supposed hoax.
The doubters were tragically right, of course. In September 2002, Milly was found murdered.
As a former Sunday paper editor, I can fully understand the impetus behind the News of the World’s drive to find Milly alive. We would have been proud to produce such a positive story (although we would never have hacked phones).
Today I can scarcely believe that the News of the World , which at other times did so much good, has been closed by its shamed owners. And I wonder what the conversation would have been now if, miraculously, Milly had been found alive