More Murdoch to look forward to...

[Ivo]

Eight months ago, when the News of the World closed down, some of us (myself included) were joyous that a scandalous publication was finally being laid to rest for good. Others however predicted that Murdoch and co. would simply make The Sun a seven-day paper.

Well, it seems they were right

Sun on Sunday to launch next week

The Sun on Sunday is to publish for the first time next weekend, News International has announced.

An email to all staff said that Rupert Murdoch, boss of parent company News Corporation, would "be staying in London to oversee the launch".

Mr Murdoch flew in to the UK last week, and told Sun staff that a Sunday edition would be launched "very soon".

News International shut down its Sunday paper, the News of the World, last year amid the scandal over phone hacking.

There had been speculation about the possibility of a Sunday edition of the Sun since then, said BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas.

A gap in the market had been left by the News of the World's closure, he said, but as tabloid sales were declining it was unclear how much demand there was for the Sun for an extra day a week.

According to an article in The Guardian, it will be far more "family-orientated" than on other days. One assumes that this would be girls in bikinis instead :roll:

 

[Badger]

Always knew it was coming, we're supposed to believe you can start a Sunday newspaper over night. In reality they'll have been planning this ever since axing NotW. Logical, expected, but still awful.

 

[Ferret]

Always knew it was coming, we're supposed to believe you can start a Sunday newspaper over night. In reality they'll have been planning this ever since axing NotW. Logical, expected, but still awful.

Proof that cynicism is never wrong! Did anyne seriously expect any different?

 

[Greenback]

I hope no one will buy it, but I expect it will sell well, unfortunately.

 

[Badger]

Unfortunately my memories of The Sun don't go beyond the playground. I found the content oddly explicit (not that I'm prudish, just seemed weird seeing that sort of thing published).

I personally read the Express and Star, BBC News' website, occassionally Wikinews, and sit down to a copy of i. Why i? Because the TV said I'd like it... and I know nothing about newspapers. All I know is "what's bad".

 

[ACE1888]

Tip of the Iceberg alas, all the Press are generally as bad as each other
You just knew it would be back, in a new 'format'....

 

[Ferret]

Tip of the Iceberg alas, all the Press are generally as bad as each other

Aint that the truth! I find the Indy to be about the best of a bad bunch, but even they are prone to bias now and then. All I want is a newspaper that presents the facts and both sides of the argument! Why is that so hard?!

 

[SS4]

Aint that the truth! I find the Indy to be about the best of a bad bunch, but even they are prone to bias now and then. All I want is a newspaper that presents the facts and both sides of the argument! Why is that so hard?!

Same reason newspapers exist at all - to make money. Confirmation bias is especially useful in doing so as it reinforces one's point of view. Wikipedia, a non-profit organisation, has verifiability and Neutral Point of View - both topics which all news outlets could learn from.

A few years later they'll change their name to News of the World.

I can see it selling because people are idiots

 

[Ferret]

Same reason newspapers exist at all - to make money. Wikipedia, a non-profit organisation, has verifiability and Neutral Point of View - both topics which all news outlets could learn from.

A few years later they'll change their name to News of the World.

I can see it selling because people are idiots

Whether we like it or not, the NoTW was a popular paper. That's why it's so unsurprising that it is being relaunched with a new name. I just won't be buying it!

 

[Temple Meads]

As long as people are silly enough to want to buy it I haven't got a problem with it, although there's zero chance I'll actually read it myself

 

[TheJRB]

Indeed, how very unsurprising and unfortunate...

Slightly off topic, but I tend to avoid most news outlets in general because a lot of "news" seems to be just an excuse for journalists to produce sensationalist doom and gloom nonsense. I think and find that if something truly important happens, I'll find out about it one way or another.

 

[scotsman]

I was in the newsroom of a local newspaper when I found out the NotW was going, I'll never forget it.

Please, please go to The Sun's website (obviously don't buy the rag) and read the story about it - it's a complete howler!

 

[Minilad]

Indeed, how very unsurprising and unfortunate...

Slightly off topic, but I tend to avoid most news outlets in general because a lot of "news" seems to be just an excuse for journalists to produce sensationalist doom and gloom nonsense. I think and find that if something truly important happens, I'll find out about it one way or another.

This. Absolutely.

Most newspapers don't contain news anymore. Just scandal and gossip.
Public interest my ass. They only thing they are interested in is circulation. And so long as there are enough numpties in this world that buy them they will keep on doing what they do

 

[yorksrob]

Newspaper snooshpaper.

If it gives people something to do on a Sunday so be it. It's not the end of the world.

 

[Schnellzug]

i don't think I've bought a Paper since 2008. I might browse through the Times or something [yes, i know it's NewsCorp, but it's the respectable face] in a cafe or on a Train, perhaps, although if someone's left a copy of the Snu I'll quietly move it onto the next table.

 

[Bungle73]

This move was about as unexpected as....as...well something that wasn't unexpected. I couldn't care less tbh. I wouldn't wipe my arse with The Sun/NoTW/Sun on Sunday. I subscribe to The Times and Sunday Times (mainly because I like their iPad apps, although the Times+ thing is good). Hard to believe they're from the same stable.

 

[Temple Meads]

I couldn't care less tbh. I wouldn't wipe my arse with The Sun/NoTW/Sun on Sunday.

I wouldn't wipe my arse with The Times either to be honest - newspaper can be very coarse and the print ends up all over your fingers

 

[Clip]

A few years later they'll change their name to News of the World.

I can see it selling because people are idiots

What a terrible thing to say and without arguing the toss for too long here oh mighty superior intellectual human being, you shouldnt tar all people with the same brush. You dont know the readership of The Sun to make such an outlandish statement.

 

[Schnellzug]

What a terrible thing to say and without arguing the toss for too long here oh mighty superior intellectual human being, you shouldnt tar all people with the same brush. You dont know the readership of The Sun to make such an outlandish statement.

i agree, people might buy it because they want to look at Boobs, that's fair enough.
Or for the award-winning worldwide news coverage, of course.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

You only have to see the percentage of column inches on the front page of any tabloid that is actually devoted to "news" and compare how many column inches are devoted to "dross" to see how the newspapers like to market themselves to their target audience.

 

[starrymarkb]

If you don't like it don't buy it. If it didn't sell then they'd change the format.

 

[Old Timer]

As an aside it is interesting to note that the NoTW was not guilty of the hacking of Milly Dowler's mobile phone, which was the principal Guardian accusation that led to its closure.

The hacking of telephones has been a norm within the Industry and this fact was well known to the Guardian long before they published the story, and they only cynically did so because they had lost a round in their ongoing war with Murdoch over his involvement with BSkyB. Had this not happened then the Guardian would NEVER have published - evidenced that by the period of time it had know and taken no action.

Since the public outcry has subsided people have lost interest and the Guardian has made a half-hearted apology for making unfounded allegations.

Whilst I fly no flag for the News of the World or indeed any of the UK press, people should be aware that there is NO newspaper with clean hands in any of this and it will only be a matter of time before those who are cynically treading on the moral high ground will themselves called to account as well.

As for placing a similar newspaper on the market this was inevitable given the popularity of the paper. It supplied what the general public wanted and still do, and to imagine that no-one would seek to grab that market particularly at a time when pretty much every newspaper is losing sales is to ignore reality.

 

[scotsman]

Whilst I fly no flag for the News of the World or indeed any of the UK press, people should be aware that there is NO newspaper with clean hands in any of this and it will only be a matter of time before those who are cynically treading on the moral high ground will themselves called to account as well.

As for placing a similar newspaper on the market this was inevitable given the popularity of the paper. It supplied what the general public wanted and still do, and to imagine that no-one would seek to grab that market particularly at a time when pretty much every newspaper is losing sales is to ignore reality.

Care to clarify? I'm 99.9% certain the Dunfermline Press didn't hack...

 

[jon0844]

You dont know the readership of The Sun to make such an outlandish statement.

I've written for The Sun (albeit about technology) and know a lot about the readership, as well as their house style guide. I won't post either, but the stereotypical reader isn't far off the mark.

There are highly intelligent writers that have to write for their audience and you can see that by simply reading the copy.

It's a simple paper to read, and I don't believe anyone is trying to pretend otherwise.

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk

 

[Eagle]

Interesting article from The Guardian. Basically the statistics show that there's still a NoW-sized hole in the Sunday market; the advertising revenue it used to garner has not materialized at other papers, and a good proportion of its readership seems to simply have vanished (although that could be due to people who buy more than one Sunday paper).

 

[jon0844]

I doubt they will have any problems getting advertising this Sunday and the foreseeable future.

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk

 

[Smethwickian]

I'm 99.9% certain the Dunfermline Press didn't hack...

I'm sure not.

Likewise, nor the Hereford Times, the Ludlow Advertiser, the Wrexham Leader, the Derby Telegraph, the Sandwell Chronicle, the Stratford-on-Avon Herald, the Lichfield Mercury, the Hull Daily Mail, the Craven Herald & Pioneer, the Bridgnorth Journal, the Sutton Coldfield Observer, the South Wales Argus, the Forester, the Loughborough Echo, the ...... well, you get the idea.

Thousands of journalists already embattled against economic circumstances and short-sighted cuts by major media groups struggle to serve local communities up and down the country in a dignified, responsible manner, covering issues of immediate local concern and major impact on ordinary people's lives.

They do not need to be tarred with the same brush as a very small number of red-top national tabloid hacks (or their private detectives) who've transgressed - or indeed been accused of transgressing, without any actual evidence, by a small group of self-serving celebrity and political types.

And when I say 'they' yes, OK, I mean we. I've been a journalist 24 years and was a local weekly editor for nine. We ran campaigns, we won awards, we covered death and triumph and we sometimes got up people's noses, particularly local politicians. But we and I have never never acted unethically, never been taken to court and never had a complaint pursued.

I'm sick of the same few grievances being repeated again and again. Yes, the News of the World was wrong. The phone hackers were wrong. So let the due process of the law take care of those responsible.

And let the rest of the media world - hundreds of blameless newspapers and thousands of honest journalists - try to get on with its job of telling you whose building a supermarket at the end of your street, which councillors have been cooking your council tax figures, publishing photos of your kids' school panto, running obituaries on people known in your town, or the hundred and one other things an average newspaper does week in, week out, to the satisfaction and benefit of the local community, without being accused of nefarious activity.

Rant over.

 

[Clip]

I've written for The Sun (albeit about technology) and know a lot about the readership, as well as their house style guide. I won't post either, but the stereotypical reader isn't far off the mark.

There are highly intelligent writers that have to write for their audience and you can see that by simply reading the copy.

It's a simple paper to read, and I don't believe anyone is trying to pretend otherwise.

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk

Of course they write for their market and is a simple paper to read - which is why its the biggest selling daily in the land - but to class their readership as all idiots is not too bright in itself.

Im amazed at how many suited and booted people I see reading the sun of a morning - and then take it with them - whereas you dont see many people carry off with their metro.

Im under no illusions about the paper myself, I read it but I also get my news information fill from other sources but I along with many others who read the sun are far from idiots.

Of course we're not all stuck up our arses like the very small readship of the guardian and the like are

 

[jon0844]

People tend to keep a paper they've paid for. Of course, Metro isn't a great paper and just seems to re-use stories it has already published in the Daily Mail the day before (or sometimes a week before!) so perhaps that's not a great example.

I've seen plenty of paid-for papers left on trains, but obviously nowhere near as many as Metro - but stand on a platform or by the shop at your station in the morning and you'll see rather a lot more copies of Metro picked up than papers bought. Besides the Sun which I believe still makes money, many papers aren't selling and have to find new ways to be read (either on a Kindle or iPad etc).

Don't get me started on The Guardian. While I get depressed about the Daily Mail readers that can get outraged at everything, I do begin to wonder if the average Guardian reader has been told to just attack everything the Tories do. Nothing more, nothing less. They could write a story about anything and the comments on the web will be about the Tories!

While I've written for a few different papers, or been interviewed in them, I don't buy any of them.

 

[Butts]

I don't think The News of the World was any better or worse than it's contemporaries - Sunday Mirror , People , Star etc .

I'm sure thay were all up phone hacking etc as well but have not yet been "collared".

Since NOW stopped publication 800,000 people have stopped buying a Sunday Paper. The rest of its 2 Million sales has mainly been split between the above titles.

Using a " 7 Day Operation" to produce what will be effectively a Sunday Edition of The Sun will be far cheaper than having a seperate set up as in the case of the old NOW.

Murdoch will probably be making more money than ever
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This move was about as unexpected as....as...well something that wasn't unexpected. I couldn't care less tbh. I wouldn't wipe my arse with The Sun/NoTW/Sun on Sunday. I subscribe to The Times and Sunday Times (mainly because I like their iPad apps, although the Times+ thing is good). Hard to believe they're from the same stable.

I take it you are aware that The Times / Sunday Times only exists on the back of the profits made by The Sun