Rupert has been experimenting with Sun on Sunday mock-ups since last July.
The geographic scope of the Leveson Inquiry into the phone hacking scandal could be widened with the news that Scottish solicitor Aamer Anwar will be making a submission to the investigation. The high-profile legal activist said:
“We welcome the opportunity to make submissions to the Leveson Inquiry and will be highlighting the fact that criminality by the News of the World was not exclusive to England, but also rampant in Scotland.”
Anwar famously defended former Scottish Socialist leader Tommy Sheridan in his perjury trial, where the defence claimed that convicted hacker and NOTW employee Glen Mulcaire had accessed Sheridan’s phone illegally. Andy Coulson insisted that he had no knowledge of any hacking, and that Mulcaire had been paid for, erm, “legitimate services”.
As reported in August, Scrapbook understands evidence given by figures including Andy Coulson, Bob Bird and Douglas Wight may be of relevance to Strathclyde Police’s Operation Rubicon, the Scottish equivalent of the Met’s Weeting and Elveden inquiries into hacking, perjury and corruption.
To think that the “single rogue reporter” defence was still being used in July.
The mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne wrote a valedictory column in the final edition of the News of the World. The piece gushed about her “trusted friends” on the paper — but she has now been informed that hackers targeted her voicemails on a phone given to her by editor Rebekah Brooks.
Under the headline “News of the World proved it is a force for good” [hi-res image], Sara Payne defended the paper, which led a campaign to establish “Sarah’s Law” - giving parents the right to know if paedophiles live nearby:
“The News of the World, and more importantly the people there became my very good and trusted friends … God only knows why the News of the World has stuck by me for so long…but the reason I’ve stayed with them is that they have always been a paper that cares and a voice for the people”
Sara is said to be “absolutely devastated and deeply disappointed” by the news.
The full text of the article is reproduced below.
IT is fair to say I have not had the happiest or easiest of decades.
Over the past 11 years I have been in the News of the World on more than one occasion, and they have been as much of a driving force behind the Sarah’s Law campaign as I have.
In fact they have helped a great deal more than I can say and I know it would have been a longer and harder fight without them in my corner. Read More »
As if today’s events weren’t exciting enough…
Shortly after 5pm, a man in a checked shirt, thought to be activist and comedian Jonnie Marbles, thought things needed spicing up a little. He planted a paper plate filled with shaving foam on Rupert Murdoch as he was giving evidence to the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee.
As Tom Watson pointed out at the end of the hearing, Mrs Murdoch has a mean left hook.
A survey for Press Gazette shows the extent of reputational damage to other News International papers, with up to 15% of the public less likely to buy Murdoch titles because of hacking at the News of the World. The poll also suggests implications for the print media at large, with 21% of respondents saying they were less likely to buy any paper.
With pollsters ID Factor asking further questions on an alternative choice of newspaper for former News of the World readers, the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror “stand to pick up more than 400,000 extra copies each”.
We may see Murdoch launch his new Sunday red top in less than three weeks.
Rumours are swirling that Rupert Murdoch’s replacement for the News of the World will be edited by current Sun showbiz editor Victoria Newton and launch as soon as August 7 — with the first edition free. Eschewing the tongue-twisting “Sun on Sunday” title for pithy wordplay, however, Scrapbook has heard whispers that Britain’s newest red top could be called simply “Sunday”.
As we reported on Monday, Trinity Mirror plc has already owns the trademark “Sunday Sun”. Incidentally, the web domain sunday.co.uk — originally registered in 1997 — was updated on 10 June this year, shortly before Roy Greenslade reported on management changes that signaled “a move towards a form of integration of daily and Sunday titles” at Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper giant.
With significant investment in technology underpinning Murdoch’s paywall model for his News International papers, the choice of domain for the new paper is of some import. Along with sunonsunday.co.uk, the address is one of over 2,500 listed on News International’s domain name servers, and has been redirecting to the News of the World site since at least March 2001.
Scrapbook wonders how many Sundays it’ll take for readers to forget about the hacking of Milly Dowler.
As the phone hacking crisis piques the interest of our transatlantic cousins, Jon Stewart tells it like it is:
“You people are garbage!”
Sublime.
While the News of the World will doubtless rise, phoenix fashion, from the ashes of the phone hacking scandal, the name the revived Sunday tabloid will take is very much in question. The original brand is toxic — but Scrapbook can report on legal problems emerging with the obvious alternative.
Within hours of James Murdoch’s announcement on Thursday afternoon, a consensus seemed to emerge around a Sunday edition of The Sun, entitled Sunday Sun or The Sun on Sunday. Hopes for brand synergy are thrown into doubt, however, by a trade mark held by the Sunday edition of the Newcastle Chronicle, owned by its parent company, Trinity Mirror. The registration protects the phrase “Sunday Sun” for use relating to:
“Newspapers for sale in the counties of Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear.”
While “The Sun on Sunday” might be ruled sufficiently distinctive from is provincial counterpart, Mirror Group Newspapers could use intellectual property legal proceedings to delay Murdoch’s re-entry into this lucrative market.
Meanwhile, our friends over at Guido Fawkes’ claim to have explosive proof that News International is already poised to launch a Sabbath version of its weekday red top. While it’s true that “The Sun On Sunday Limited” was incorporated with Companies House on Friday, its home appears to be some 75 miles south west of Wapping.
Scrapbook, can reveal that the company was registered as a “speculative punt” by one Brian Dent of suburban Portsmouth. When not planning the resurrection of the worlds best selling newspaper, Mr Dent is director of Precision Products, manufacturers of the finest machine tools and drill components.
Great experience for running the News of the Screws.
