Rupert Murdoch should not be blinded by an emotional attachment to a small and declining part of his empire. Those were the last words to a Lex column in the Financial Times yesterday.  The piece was of course referring to the News of the World, which was part of a newspaper division – that included The Sun and other profitable tittles in the US and Australia – that contributed only 13 percent to News Corp’s 2010 operating profits.

The piece began with the claim that News Corp was in a BP-style mess and accompanied a frontpage that carried the headline ‘Murdoch investors take fright’ – Brooks (Rebekah) backed over NoW, Fears for BSkyB bid, News Corp shares fall.

As the phone hacking scandal escalated yesterday, following the revelation that voice messages that had been hacked into included those of murdered British school girl Milly Dowler, were the closing words to that Lex column still ringing in Rupert Murdoch’ s ears when he decided to close down a title he had bought in 1969?