Rupert Murdoch to launch Sun on Sunday ‘very soon’

Mr Murdoch, who was visiting News International’s Wapping headquarters, said “illegal activities simply cannot and will not be tolerated”. but he stressed his commitment to the paper, talking of his respect for the Sun’s heritage and journalism. He said the situation was “a source of great pain” and he announced that suspensions of all staff who were arrested recently over alleged corrupt payments will be lifted.

Ten current and former senior reporters and executives at The Sun have been questioned since November over alleged corrupt payments to public officials.

Mr Murdoch, 81, praised the “superb work” of Sun journalists and said the recent arrests were “a source of great pain for me”. He ended by telling staff that he will launch a new national Sunday newspaper, the Sun on Sunday, “very soon”.

‘Massively premature’

The decision was criticised by Labour MP Chris Bryant, whose phone was hacked by the News of the World. He said Mr Murdoch should have waited for the conclusions of the police investigation and the Leveson inquiry into media practices.

He is meant still to be ‘draining the swamp’ and yet the swamp is meant to produce another newspaper. Chris Bryant MP

“I think it is massively premature because one would have thought the Murdoch empire would want to wait until Leveson had completed his inquiry and the the police and prosecuting authorities had completed their investigations,” said Mr Bryant.

“He (Mr Murdoch) is meant still to be ‘draining the swamp’ and yet the swamp is meant to produce another newspaper. The most cynical piece of hypocrisy is that News International has tirelessly campaigned for people who have been charged to be suspended from public office and yet journalists who have been charged at News International are apparently not going to be suspended.”

The News of the World closed in July 2011 after 168 years with a farewell issue which splashed “Thank you and Goodbye”. It followed the phone-hacking scandal.

“Something has disappeared”: Why a Sunday Sun could scoop up missing readers

Media advertising experts are predicting that the Sunday Sun could be very succesful. Liam Mullins at The 7Stars agency told Channel 4 News: “The other red tops have done a great job in picking up the readers but people liked having the News of the World as their guilty pleasure.

“Something has disappeared and a Sunday Sun with huge amounts of money behind it will pick up numbers quickly. Advertisers will follow an audience as long as News International learn from their errors and conduct business in a way that is legal and above board.”

Other tabloids did at first add copies to their sales – from June to July last year there was a growth in combined sales of the Daily Star on Sunday, Sunday Express, People, Sunday Mirror and the Mail on Sunday.

But by December the circulation of other titles was slipping again, with the Mail on Sunday dropping over half a million readers. However, with sales of 1.9 million in December it is still the biggest selling Sunday newspaper. Figures suggest that after initially switching allegiance, just over 800,000 of the News of the World’s readers gave up reading a Sunday paper altogether.

Anger

Some Sun journalists are angry at the role played by News International (NI) in the police investigation.

An internal management and standards committee, formed following the phone hacking scandal in order to clean up the company, gave police information that led to the arrests. Trevor Kavanagh, associate editor of The Sun, said: “There is some unease about the way some of the best journalists in Fleet Street have ended up being arrested on evidence which the MSC has handed to the police.”

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it had been approached by a group of Sun journalists and was looking at ways to support them. The NUJ is not officially recognised by NI management.

Protecting sources

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said in a statement: “It is not an exaggeration to say that if journalists are not allowed to offer protection to their sources – often brave people who are raising their heads above the parapet to disclose information – then the free press in the UK is dead.”

The police operation, known as the Elveden investigation, was launched as the phone-hacking scandal erupted last July with allegations about the now defunct News of the World targeting Milly Dowler’s mobile phone.

The last arrests saw five senior staff members arrested at their homes in London, Kent and Essex. None has been charged with an offence. The men were deputy editor Geoff Webster, chief reporter John Kay, picture editor John Edwards, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and John Sturgis, who is a news editor.

Alleged corruption

They were questioned on suspicion of corruption, aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both these offences.

A 29-year-old serving Surrey police officer, a 39-year-old-Ministry of Defence employee and a 36-year-old member of the armed forces were also arrested in connection with making or receiving corrupt payments.

The arrests came two weeks after four former and current Sun journalists and a serving Metropolitan Police officer were arrested over alleged illegal payments. All five were released on bail.