Murdoch launches new Sunday newspaper
In the British newspaper scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid *The Sun*, the 80-year-old media mogul is going on the offensive. Having traveled to London from the U.S. specifically for this purpose, Murdoch announced the launch of a new Sunday newspaper on Friday in *The Sun*’s newsroom.
The newspaper, entitled Sun on Sunday, will be launched "very soon". The project is generally seen as a successor to the scandalous News of the World newspaper, which was discontinued in July 2011. Reporters of the paper were found to have tapped the mobile phone voicemails of celebrities and victims of crime. After advertisers withdrew their cooperation on a large scale, Murdoch discontinued the News of the World, and in the ensuing months-long investigation into the British media system, its sister paper The Sun - the UK's largest newspaper with a daily circulation of 2.7 million copies - also came under fire.
In recent weeks, ten journalists from the newspaper, some of them high-profile, have been temporarily arrested. They are accused of bribing police officers and other public officials. The staff of The Sun, which is one of the biggest tabloid newspapers in Europe, had objected to the police's investigative methods. The police had arrived at dawn and frightened the wives and children of those involved during house searches.
Murdoch's News Corp. came under fire because a commission set up by the company had, in the opinion of journalists, passed on information to the investigating authorities too freely. For example, an archive containing 300 million emails was made available. This included confidential correspondence with informants.
Murdoch explained in an email to his staff on Friday that "illegal activity simply cannot and will not be tolerated". However, he would lift the suspensions for employees under investigation in the affair. Labor MP Chris Bryant described this move as "cynical". (SDA/DPA)
(Image: Keystone)
