Tenore has been chronicling how the Guardian newspaper first began exposing the News of the World misconduct, without seeing any ripple effect.

CNN: Once ignored, phone-hacking scandal gets global audience

"It's really more than just a plain media story, " said Mallary Tenore, associate editor at Poynter.org, the website at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists.

CNN: Once ignored, phone-hacking scandal gets global audience

"The fact that this story had so many different legs and caused harm to so many people, it's not surprising it's gotten so much attention, " Tenore said.

CNN: Once ignored, phone-hacking scandal gets global audience