103-535: Defunct The Sun is a British tabloid newspaper , published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK , itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lachlan Murdoch 's News Corp . It was founded as a broadsheet in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald , and became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owner. The Sun had the largest daily newspaper circulation in
206-560: A tabloid , and ran it as a sister paper to the News of the World . The Sun used the same printing presses, and the two papers were managed together at senior executive levels. The tabloid Sun was first published on 17 November 1969, with a front page headlined "HORSE DOPE SENSATION", an ephemeral "exclusive". An editorial on page 2 announced: "Today's Sun is a new newspaper. It has a new shape, new writers, new ideas. But it inherits all that
309-483: A "Birthday Suit Girl" to mark the first anniversary of the relaunched Sun . A topless Page 3 model gradually became a regular fixture, and with increasingly risqué poses. Both feminists and many cultural conservatives saw the pictures as pornographic and misogynistic. Lamb later expressed some regret at introducing the feature, although he denied it was sexist. A Conservative council in Sowerby Bridge , Yorkshire,
412-513: A "popular idea", would have to "go and lie down in a dark room for half an hour". Both have pointed to the huge commercial success of the Sun during that period, and its establishment as Britain's top-selling newspaper, claiming that they are "giving the public what they want". That conclusion was disputed by critics. John Pilger said that a late-1970s edition of the Daily Mirror , which replaced
515-462: A British missile. Under the headline "Stick This Up Your Junta: A Sun missile for Galtieri's gauchos", the newspaper published a photograph of a missile (actually a Polaris missile stock shot from the Ministry of Defence ) which had a large Sun logo printed on its side with the caption "Here It Comes, Senors..." underneath. The paper explained that it was "sponsoring" the missile by contributing to
618-611: A Labour Party led by James Callaghan or Roy Jenkins . In the October election, an editorial asserted: "ALL our instincts are left rather than right and we would vote for any able politician who would describe himself as a Social Democrat." In the 1975 referendum on Britain continuing membership of the European Economic Community , it advocated a vote to stay in the Common Market. The editor, Larry Lamb,
721-458: A column by former editor Kelvin MacKenzie the day before the 28th anniversary of the disaster which included a passage about footballer Ross Barkley that was considered "appalling and indefensible" and included a racist epithet and insults against the people of Liverpool. Access to the club grounds and facilities for Sun reporters were blocked. The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson described
824-453: A copy of The Sun in the House of Commons and suggested the paper could be prosecuted for indecency. Sexually related features such as "Do Men Still Want To Marry A Virgin?" and "The Way into a Woman's Bed" began to appear. Serialisations of erotic books were frequent; the publication of extracts from The Sensuous Woman , at a time when copies of the book were being seized by Customs, produced
927-449: A follow-up, headlined "Now they're after our fish!". Following a Press Complaints Commission adjudication a "clarification" was eventually printed, on page 41. In 2005, The Sun published photographs of Prince Harry sporting a Nazi costume to a fancy dress party. The photographs caused outrage across the world and Clarence House was forced to issue a statement in response apologising for any offence or embarrassment caused. Despite being
1030-519: A large parliamentary majority, despite the paper having attacked Blair and New Labour up to a month earlier. Its front-page headline read THE SUN BACKS BLAIR and its front-page editorial made clear that while it still opposed some New Labour policies, such as the minimum wage and devolution, it believed Blair to be "the breath of fresh air this great country needs". It said that John Major's Conservatives were "tired, divided and rudderless". Blair, who had radically altered his party's image and policies, noting
1133-539: A page 2 news story titled "STRAIGHT SEX CANNOT GIVE YOU AIDS – OFFICIAL." The Sun favourably cited the opinions of Lord Kilbracken , a member of the All Parliamentary Group on AIDS , who had said that only one person out of the 2,372 individuals with HIV/AIDS mentioned in a specific Department of Health report was not a member of a "high risk group", such as homosexuals and recreational drug users. The Sun also ran an editorial arguing that "At last
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#17327868233901236-476: A panellist on BBC1's Question Time , that the apology he made about the coverage was a hollow one, forced upon him by Rupert Murdoch. MacKenzie further claimed he was not sorry "for telling the truth" but he admitted that he did not know whether some Liverpool fans urinated on the police, or robbed victims. On 12 September 2012, following the publication of the official report into the disaster using previously withheld Government papers which officially exonerated
1339-423: A persistent critic of some of the government's policies, the paper supported Labour in both subsequent elections the party won. For the 2005 general election , The Sun backed Blair and Labour for a third consecutive election win and vowed to give him "one last chance" to fulfil his promises, despite berating him for several weaknesses including a failure to control immigration. However, it did speak of its hope that
1442-555: A person's sexuality unless it could be defended on the grounds of "overwhelming public interest". In 2003, the paper was accused of racism by the government over its criticisms of what it perceived as the "open door" policy on immigration. The attacks came from the Prime Minister's press spokesman Alastair Campbell and the Home Secretary David Blunkett (later a Sun columnist). The paper rebutted
1545-562: A photograph of Scargill with his arm in the air, a pose which made him look as though he was giving a Nazi salute . The print workers at The Sun refused to print it. The Sun strongly supported the April 1986 bombing of Libya by the US, which was launched from British bases. Several civilians were killed during the bombing. Their leader was "Right Ron, Right Maggie". That year, Labour MP Clare Short attempted in vain to persuade Parliament to outlaw
1648-563: A positive view of the rival's "Mirrorscope" supplement. Dropping a sample copy into a bin, Murdoch replied: "If you think we're going to have any of that upmarket shit in our paper, you're very much mistaken." Lamb hastily recruited a staff of about 125 reporters, who were mostly selected for availability rather than their ability. This was about a quarter of what the Mirror then employed, and Murdoch had to draft in staff on loan from his Australian papers. Murdoch immediately relaunched The Sun as
1751-615: A reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium ... these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters ... I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong". A member of the Hillsborough Families Support Group responded "too little, too late". Widespread boycotts of
1854-548: A scandal and a significant amount of free publicity. Politically, The Sun in the early Murdoch years remained nominally Labour-supporting. It advocated a vote for the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson in the 1970 UK general election , with the headline "Why It Must Be Labour"; by February 1974, it was calling for a vote for the Conservative Party led by Edward Heath while suggesting that it might support
1957-498: A significant turning point in the relations between celebrities and tabloid journalism, increasing the willingness of celebrities to sue for libel in the U.S., and somewhat dampening the recklessness of U.S. tabloids. Other celebrities have attempted to sue tabloid magazines for libel and slander including Phil McGraw in 2016 and Richard Simmons in 2017. Tabloids may pay for stories . Besides scoops meant to be headline stories, this can be used to censor stories damaging to
2060-557: A total of 17 libel suits. They began with an invented account of the singer having sexual relationships with rent boys . The singer-songwriter was abroad on the day indicated in the story, as former Sun journalist John Blake , recently poached by the Daily Mirror , soon discovered. After further stories, in September 1987, The Sun accused John of having his Rottweiler guard dogs' voice boxes surgically removed . In November,
2163-509: Is best from the great traditions of its predecessors. The Sun cares. About the quality of life. About the kind of world we live in. And about people." The first issue had an "exclusive interview" with the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson on page 9. The paper copied the rival Daily Mirror in several ways. It was the same size and its masthead had the title in white on a red rectangle of the same colour as
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#17327868233902266-540: Is funded was vociferously supported by the newspaper, despite widespread opposition, (some from Conservative MPs), which is seen as having contributed to Thatcher's own downfall. The tax was quickly repealed by her successor John Major , whom The Sun initially supported enthusiastically, believing the former Chancellor of the Exchequer was a radical Thatcherite. On the day of the general election of 9 April 1992, its front-page headline, encapsulating its antipathy towards
2369-585: Is right, we can't carry on like this". The paper showed hostility to the European Union (EU) and approval of public spending cuts, tax cuts, and promotion of right-wing ministers to the cabinet, with leaders such as "More of the Redwood, not Deadwood". The Sun criticised Labour leader John Smith in February 1994, for saying that more British troops should be sent to Bosnia . The Sun 's comment
2472-773: The Daily Mirror , and the Daily Record . In the early 21st century, much of tabloid journalism and news production changed mediums to online formats. This change is to keep up with the era of digital media and allow for increased accessibility of readers. With a steady decline in paid newspapers , the gap has been filled by expected free daily articles, mostly in the tabloid format. Tabloid readers are often youths, and studies show that consumers of tabloids are on average less educated. It can often depict inaccurate news and misrepresent individuals and situations. Larry Lamb (newspaper editor) Sir Albert Lamb (15 July 1929 – 19 May 2000), commonly known as Larry Lamb ,
2575-466: The Daily Mirror found their rival's only source for the rent boy story, who admitted it was a totally fictitious concoction created for money. The inaccurate story about his dogs, actually Alsatians , put pressure on The Sun , and John received £1 million in an out-of-court settlement, then the largest damages payment in British history. The Sun ran a front-page apology on 12 December 1988, under
2678-399: The Daily Mirror . These papers are now known as red tops . The Mirror 's "Live Letters" was matched by "Livelier Letters". Sex was used as an important element in the content and marketing of the paper from the start, which Lamb believed was the most important part of his readers' lives. The first topless Page 3 model appeared on 17 November 1970, Stephanie Rahn ; she was tagged as
2781-718: The supermarket checkout lines. In the 1960s, the National Enquirer began selling magazines in supermarkets as an alternative to newsstands. To help with their rapport with supermarkets and continue their franchise within them, they had offered to buy back unsold issues so newer, more up to date ones could be displayed. These tabloids—such as the Globe and the National Enquirer —often use aggressive tactics to sell their issues. Unlike regular tabloid-format newspapers, supermarket tabloids are distributed through
2884-572: The 1970s – the so-called " Spanish practices " of the print unions – The Sun was very profitable, enabling Murdoch to expand his operations to the United States from 1973. The paper endorsed the Conservative Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 UK general election at the end of a process which had been under way for some time, although The Sun had not initially been enthusiastic about Thatcher. On 3 May 1979, it ran
2987-866: The 21st century to more online platforms that seek to target and engage youth consumers with celebrity news and entertainment . Scandal sheets were the precursors to tabloid journalism. Around 1770, scandal sheets appeared in London, and in the United States as early as the 1840s. Reverend Henry Bate Dudley was the editor of one of the earliest scandal sheets, The Morning Post , which specialized in printing malicious society gossip , selling positive mentions in its pages, and collecting suppression fees to keep stories unpublished. Other Georgian era scandal sheets were Theodore Hook 's John Bull , Charles Molloy Westmacott 's The Age , and Barnard Gregory 's The Satirist . William d'Alton Mann , owner of
3090-448: The BBC's defence correspondent Peter Snow , of "treason" for aspects of their coverage. The satirical magazine Private Eye mocked and lampooned what they regarded as the paper's jingoistic coverage, most memorably with the mock- Sun headline "KILL AN ARGIE, WIN A METRO !", to which MacKenzie is said to have jokingly responded, "Why didn't we think of that?" These years included what
3193-669: The British tabloid concept more profoundly than [Larry] Lamb did". Under MacKenzie, the paper became "more outrageous, opinionated and irreverent than anything ever produced in Britain". The Sun became an ardent supporter of the Falklands War . The coverage "captured the zeitgeist" according to Roy Greenslade , assistant editor at the time (though privately an opponent of the war) but was also "xenophobic, bloody-minded, ruthless, often reckless, black-humoured and ultimately triumphalist". On 1 May, The Sun claimed to have " sponsored "
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3296-530: The Conservatives (led by Michael Howard ) would one day be fit for a return to government. This election (Blair had declared it would be his last as prime minister) resulted in Labour's third successive win but with a much reduced majority. When Rebekah Wade (now Brooks) became editor in 2003, it was thought Page 3 might be dropped. Wade had tried to persuade David Yelland , her immediate predecessors in
3399-417: The Labour leader Neil Kinnock , read: "If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights". Two days later, The Sun was so convinced its front page had swung a close election for the Conservatives it declared: " It's The Sun Wot Won It ". The Sun led with a headline "Now we've all been screwed by the cabinet" with a reference to Black Wednesday on 17 September 1992, and
3502-481: The Liverpool fans present, MacKenzie issued the following statement: Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline. I too was totally misled. Twenty three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield [White's] in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP [Sheffield Hallam MP Irvine Patnick ] were making serious allegations against fans in
3605-561: The United Kingdom , but was overtaken by freesheet rival Metro in March 2018. The paper became a seven-day operation when The Sun on Sunday was launched in February 2012 to replace the closed News of the World , employing some of its former journalists. In March 2020, the average circulation for The Sun was 1.21 million, The Sun on Sunday 1,013,777. The Sun has been involved in many controversies in its history, among
3708-528: The World , and moved operations to the new Wapping complex in East London, substituting the electricians' union for the print unions as his production staff's representatives, and greatly reducing the number of staff employed to print the papers. A year-long picket by sacked workers was eventually defeated (see Wapping dispute ). During that period, The Sun gained a reputation for running sensationalist stories of questionable veracity. On 13 March 1986,
3811-567: The accident, editor Kelvin MacKenzie published an editorial which accused people of "scapegoating" the police, saying that the disaster occurred "because thousands of fans, many without tickets tried to get into the ground just before kick-off – either by forcing their way in or by blackmailing the police into opening the gates". The next day, under a front-page headline "The Truth", the paper falsely accused Liverpool fans of theft and of urinating on and attacking police officers and emergency services. Conservative Member of Parliament Irvine Patnick
3914-525: The article as "disgrace" and a "slur" on the city. MacKenzie was suspended as a contributor to the paper on the day of publication. The Sun remained loyal to Thatcher until her resignation in November 1990, despite the party's fall in popularity over the previous year following the introduction of the poll tax (officially known as the Community Charge). This change to the way local government
4017-401: The banner headline "SORRY, ELTON". Television personality Piers Morgan , a former editor of the Daily Mirror and of The Sun ' s "Bizarre" pop column, has said that during the late 1980s, at Kelvin MacKenzie 's behest, he was ordered to speculate on the sexuality of male pop stars for a feature headlined "The Poofs of Pop". He also recalls MacKenzie headlining a January 1989 story about
4120-426: The claim, believing that it was not racist to suggest that a "tide" of unchecked illegal immigrants was increasing the risk of terrorist attacks and infectious diseases. It did not help its argument by publishing a front-page story on 4 July 2003, under the headline "Swan Bake", which claimed that asylum seekers were slaughtering and eating swans. It later proved to have no basis in fact. Subsequently, The Sun published
4223-508: The day of "The Truth" reported claims about fans as accusations by the police, rather than fact. In April 1992, on the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, The Sun printed an exclusive interview with Liverpool manager Graeme Souness as he celebrated Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final win over Portsmouth while recovering in hospital from heart surgery. Souness came under fire from Liverpool fans for conducting an interview with
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4326-524: The day of the Chesterfield by-election in which Benn was standing, was discredited when the psychiatrist quoted by The Sun publicly denounced the article, describing the false quotes attributed to him as "absurd". The Sun had apparently fabricated the entire piece. The newspaper made frequent scathing attacks on what the paper called the " loony left " element within the Labour Party , and on institutions supposedly controlled by it. Ken Livingstone ,
4429-441: The disaster, in 1989 prices. Sales also declined to a lesser degree in neighbouring parts of Cheshire and Lancashire . It was revealed in a documentary called Alexei Sayle's Liverpool , aired in September 2008, that many Liverpudlians will not even take the newspaper for free, or will burn or tear it up. The paper is referred to by Liverpudlians as The Scum , with campaigners believing it limited their fight for justice. The Sun
4532-521: The disease. The Sun ' s article and editorial were reported to the Press Council and an adjudication ruled that they were "misleading in its interpretation... and the headline... was a gross distortion of the statistical information supplied by the Minister." The Sun later published an apology, which was run on Page 28. David Randall argued in the textbook The Universal Journalist that
4635-579: The earlier label of yellow journalism and scandal sheets . Not all newspapers associated with tabloid journalism are tabloid size, and not all tabloid-size newspapers engage in tabloid journalism; in particular, since around the year 2000 many broadsheet newspapers converted to the more compact tabloid format . In some cases, celebrities have successfully sued tabloids for libel , demonstrating that their stories have defamed them. Publications engaging in tabloid journalism are also known as rag newspapers or simply rags . Tabloid journalism has changed in
4738-415: The eventual victory party on HMS Invincible when the war ended. In copy written by Wendy Henry , the paper said that the missile would shortly be used against Argentinian forces. Tony Snow, The Sun journalist on Invincible who had "signed" the missile, reported a few days later that it had hit an Argentinian target. One of the paper's best known front pages, published on 4 May 1982, commemorated
4841-461: The exposure a few months earlier of an extra-marital affair in which Cabinet Minister David Mellor was involved. On 14 October 1992, The Sun attacked Michael Heseltine for the mass coal mine closures . Despite its initial opposition to the closures, until 1997, the newspaper repeatedly called for the implementation of further Thatcherite policies, such as Royal Mail privatisation, and social security cutbacks, with leaders such as " Peter Lilley
4944-534: The first same-sex kiss on the BBC television soap opera EastEnders as "EastBenders", describing the kiss between Colin Russell and Guido Smith as "a homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs ... when millions of children were watching". In 1990, the Press Council adjudicated against The Sun and columnist Garry Bushell for their use of derogatory terminology about gay people. The Sun responded to
5047-502: The headline "The Lies" rather than "The Truth". I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong. Trevor Hicks, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, rejected Mr MacKenzie's apology as "too little, too late", calling him " lowlife , clever lowlife, but lowlife". Following the publication of the report The Sun apologised on its front page, under the headline "The Real Truth". With
5150-411: The health crisis on 8 May 1983 with the headline: "US Gay Blood Plague Kills Three in Britain". In May 1987, the publication offered gay men free one-way airline tickets to Norway to leave Britain for good: "Fly Away Gays – And We Will Pay" was the paper's headline. Gay Church of England clergymen were described in one headline in November 1987 as "Pulpit poofs". On 17 November 1989, The Sun headlined
5253-404: The history of U.S. supermarket tabloids was the successful libel lawsuit by Carol Burnett against the National Enquirer ( Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc. ), arising out of a false 1976 report in the National Enquirer , implying she was drunk and boisterous in a public encounter with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger . Though its impact is widely debated, it is generally seen as
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#17327868233905356-477: The incident was a fabrication: "I have never eaten or even nibbled a live hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, mouse, shrew, vole or any other small mammal." Fuelled by MacKenzie's preoccupation with the subject, stories in The Sun spread rumours about the sexual orientation of famous people, especially pop stars. The Sun ran a series of false stories about Elton John from 25 February 1987, which eventually resulted in
5459-487: The influence the paper could have over its readers' political thinking, had courted it and Murdoch for some time by granting exclusive interviews and writing columns. In exchange for Rupert Murdoch's support, Blair agreed not to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism , which John Major had withdrawn the country from in September 1992 after barely two years. Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson
5562-413: The instruction of Rupert Murdoch , believing: "all I did wrong was tell the truth ... I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now". On Question Time the next year, MacKenzie publicly repeated the claims he said at the dinner; he said that he believed some of the material they published in The Sun but was not sure about all of it. He said in 2012, "Twenty-three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from
5665-443: The job, to scrap the feature, but a model who shared her first name was used on her first day in the post. On 22 September 2003, the newspaper appeared to misjudge the public mood surrounding mental health, as well as its affection for former world heavyweight champion boxer Frank Bruno , who had been admitted to hospital, when the headline "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up" appeared on the front page of early editions. The adverse reaction, once
5768-411: The leader of the left-wing Greater London Council , was described as "the most odious man in Britain" in October 1981. During the miners' strike of 1984–85 , The Sun supported the police and Margaret Thatcher 's government against the striking NUM miners, and in particular the union's president, Arthur Scargill . On 23 May 1984, The Sun prepared a front page with the headline "Mine Führer " and
5871-562: The lurid and profane, sometimes used to grind political, ideological, or personal axes, sometimes to make money (because "scandal sells"), and sometimes for extortion. A Duluth, Minnesota example was the Rip-saw , written by a fundamentalist journalist named John L. Morrison who was outraged by the vice and corruption he observed in that 1920s mining town. Rip-saw regularly published accusations of drunkenness, debauchery, and corruption against prominent citizens and public officials. Morrison
5974-468: The magazine distribution channel like other weekly magazines and mass-market paperback books. Leading examples include the National Enquirer , Star , Weekly World News (later reinvented as a parody of the style), and the Sun . Most major supermarket tabloids in the U.S. are published by American Media, Inc. , including the National Enquirer , Star , Globe , and National Examiner . A major event in
6077-644: The most notable being their coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster . Regional editions of the newspaper for Scotland ( The Scottish Sun ), Northern Ireland ( The Sun ), and the Republic of Ireland ( The Irish Sun ) are published in Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin, respectively. There is currently no separate Welsh edition of The Sun ; readers in Wales receive the same edition as the readers in England. The Sun
6180-543: The negative impact of its launch at which it still resembled the Herald . The pre-Murdoch Sun was "a worthy, boring, leftish, popular broadsheet" in the opinion of Patrick Brogan in 1982. Robert Maxwell , a book publisher and Member of Parliament eager to buy a British newspaper, offered to take it off their hands and retain its commitment to the Labour Party, but admitted there would be redundancies, especially among
6283-638: The new law could be used to shut down Rip-saw . The Saturday Press was another Minnesota scandal sheet. When the Public Nuisance Bill of 1925 was used to shut down The Saturday Press , the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court which found the gag law to be unconstitutional. In the United States and Canada, "supermarket tabloids" are large, national versions of these tabloids, usually published weekly. They are named for their prominent placement along
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#17327868233906386-659: The newspaper published one of its best known headlines: "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER". The story alleged that comedian Freddie Starr , while staying at the home of a writer and friend of his named Vince McCaffrey and his partner Lea LaSalle in Birchwood, Cheshire , had, after returning from a performance at a nightclub in the early hours, found little to eat in their house. LaSalle was reported as saying that Starr put her pet hamster "between two slices of bread and started eating it". According to Max Clifford : Read All About It , written by Clifford and Angela Levin, La Salle invented
6489-422: The newspaper throughout Merseyside followed immediately and continue to this day. Boycotts include both customers refusing to purchase it, and retailers refusing to stock it. The Financial Times reported in 2019 that Merseyside sales were estimated to drop from 55,000 per day to 12,000 per day, an 80% decrease. Chris Horrie estimated in 2014 that the tabloid's owners had lost £15 million per month since
6592-460: The newspaper's editor at the time, Dominic Mohan, adding underneath: It's a version of events that 23 years ago The Sun went along with and for that we're deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry. We've co-operated fully with The Hillsborough Independent Panel and will publish reports of their findings in tomorrow's newspaper. We will also reflect our deep sense of shame. The newspaper was banned by Everton F.C. in April 2017 after The Sun published
6695-536: The newspaper, who made continued calls for him to be sacked. Liverpool's victory in the FA Cup final a month later did little to lessen the anger towards Souness, who was already under fire for Liverpool's inconsistent league form, although he did not resign from his position until January 1994. On 7 July 2004, in response to verbal attacks in Liverpool on Wayne Rooney , just before his transfer from Everton to Manchester United , who had sold his life story to The Sun ,
6798-489: The newspaper. He assured IPC that he would publish a "straightforward, honest newspaper" which would continue to support Labour. IPC, under pressure from the unions, rejected Maxwell's offer, and Murdoch bought the paper for £800,000, to be paid in instalments. He would later remark: "I am constantly amazed at the ease with which I entered British newspapers." The Daily Herald had been printed in Manchester since 1930, as
6901-420: The paper devoted a full-page editorial to an apology for the "awful error" of its Hillsborough coverage and argued that Rooney (who was only three years old at the time of Hillsborough) should not be punished for its "past sins". In January 2005, The Sun 's managing editor Graham Dudman admitting the Hillsborough coverage was "the worst mistake in our history", added: "What we did was a terrible mistake. It
7004-550: The paper had hit the streets on the evening of 21 September, led to the headline being changed for the paper's second edition to the more sympathetic "Sad Bruno in Mental Home". Tabloid journalism Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format : a small-sized newspaper also known as half broadsheet . The size became associated with sensationalism, and tabloid journalism replaced
7107-466: The paper's allies. Known as " catch and kill ", tabloid newspapers may pay someone for the exclusive rights to a story, then choose not to run it. Publisher American Media has been accused of burying stories embarrassing to Arnold Schwarzenegger , Donald Trump , and Harvey Weinstein . The term "red tops" refers to British tabloids with red mastheads , such as The Sun , the Daily Star ,
7210-426: The pictures on Page Three, and gained the opprobrium of the newspaper for her stand. During the 1987 UK general election , The Sun ran a mock-editorial entitled "Why I'm Backing Kinnock , by Stalin ". Murdoch responded to some of the criticisms of the newspaper by saying that critics were "snobs" who want to "impose their tastes on everyone else". MacKenzie claimed the same critics were people who, if they ever had
7313-843: The previous circulation of the Daily Herald (1.2 million) within a few weeks. By 1969, according to Hugh Cudlipp , The Sun was losing about £2 million a year, and had a circulation of 800,000. IPC decided to sell to stop the losses, according to Bernard Shrimsley in 2004, out of a fear that the unions would disrupt publication of the Mirror if they did not continue to publish the original Sun . Bill Grundy wrote in The Spectator in July 1969 that although it published "fine writers" in Geoffrey Goodman , Nancy Banks-Smith and John Akass among others, it had never overcome
7416-448: The printers. Rupert Murdoch , meanwhile, had bought the News of the World , a sensationalist Sunday newspaper, the previous year, but the presses in the basement of his building in London's Bouverie Street were unused six days a week. Seizing the opportunity to increase his presence on Fleet Street, he made an agreement with the print unions, promising fewer redundancies if he acquired
7519-474: The re-election of Ronald Reagan as president of the United States ; Reagan was two weeks shy of his 74th birthday when he started his second term, in January 1985. On 1 March 1984, the newspaper extensively quoted an American psychiatrist claiming that British left-wing politician Tony Benn was "insane", with the psychiatrist discussing various aspects of Benn's supposed pathology. The story, which appeared on
7622-464: The real thing?" and called the planned windfall tax, which was later imposed by the Labour government, "wrongheaded". In February 1997 it told Sir Edward Heath MP to stand down for supporting a national minimum wage. The Sun switched support to the Labour party on 18 March 1997, six weeks before the general election victory which saw the New Labour leader Tony Blair become Prime Minister with
7725-421: The results from one specific study while ignoring other data on HIV infection and not just AIDS infection, which the critics viewed as unethical politicisation of a medical issue. Lord Kilbracken himself criticised The Sun 's editorial and the headline of its news story, stating that, while he thought that gay people were more at risk of developing AIDS, it was still wrong to imply that no one else could catch
7828-584: The scandal sheet Town Topics , explained his purpose: "My ambition is to reform the Four Hundred by making them too deeply disgusted with themselves to continue their silly, empty way of life." Many scandal sheets in the U.S. were short-lived attempts at blackmail . One of the most popular in the U.S. was the National Police Gazette . Scandal sheets in the early 20th century were usually 4- or 8-page cheap papers specializing in
7931-420: The second name on his list of preferences. Lamb was scathing in his opinion of the Daily Mirror , where he had recently been employed as a senior sub-editor, and shared Murdoch's view that a paper's quality was best measured by its sales, and he regarded the Mirror as overstaffed, and too focused on an ageing readership. Godfrey Hodgson of The Sunday Times interviewed Murdoch at this time and expressed
8034-496: The stadium. I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster. As the Prime Minister has made clear these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters thereby shifting the blame for the tragedy from themselves. It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have been far more accurate had I written
8137-512: The story in The Sun was one of the worst cases of journalistic malpractice in recent history, putting its own readers in harm's way. At the end of the decade, The Sun ' s coverage of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster , in which 97 people died as a result of their injuries, proved to be, as the paper later admitted, the "most terrible" blunder in its history. Three days after
8240-468: The story out of frustration with Starr, who had been working on a book with McCaffrey. She contacted an acquaintance who worked for The Sun in Manchester. The story reportedly delighted MacKenzie, who was keen to run it, and Max Clifford , who had been Starr's public relations agent. Starr had to be persuaded that the apparent revelation would not damage him, and the attention helped to revive his career. In his 2001 autobiography Unwrapped , Starr wrote that
8343-726: The term ' Winter of Discontent ' to the series of strikes over the winter of 1978–79. He was Deputy Chairman of News Group from 1979 but was transferred to the Western Mail in Australia in 1981, and edited The Australian in 1982, where he was nicknamed "Sir Loin" by staff members. He left the Group in 1983 to work for the Daily Express . In 1985, during his time as editor of the Daily Express , Lamb declared that
8446-666: The torpedoing of the Argentine ship the General Belgrano by running the story under the headline "GOTCHA". At MacKenzie's insistence, and against the wishes of Murdoch (the mogul was present because almost all the journalists were on strike), the headline was changed for later editions after the extent of Argentinian casualties became known. John Shirley, a reporter for The Sunday Times , witnessed copies of this edition of The Sun being thrown overboard by sailors and marines on HMS Fearless . After HMS Sheffield
8549-479: The truth can be told ... the risk of catching AIDS if you are heterosexual is 'statistically invisible'. In other words, impossible. So now we know – everything else is homosexual propaganda". Although many other British press services covered Lord Kilbracken's public comments, none of them echoed the argument in the Sun , and none of them presented Lord Kilbracken's ideas without context or criticism. Critics stated that both The Sun and Lord Kilbracken cherry-picked
8652-513: The unconditional release of Nelson Mandela , imprisoned ANC leader in apartheid South Africa , would be "a crass error". After standing down in 1986 he set up his own public relations company, Larry Lamb Associates. Lamb was knighted in the Queen's 1980 Birthday Honours List on the recommendation of Margaret Thatcher . His nickname was inspired by the Children's Hour character Larry
8755-613: The unequivocal front-page headline, "VOTE TORY THIS TIME". The Daily Star had been launched in 1978 by Express Newspapers, and by 1981 had begun to affect sales of The Sun . Bingo was introduced as a marketing tool, and a 2p drop in cover price removed the Daily Star ' s competitive advantage, opening a new circulation battle which resulted in The Sun neutralising the threat of the new paper. The new editor of The Sun , Kelvin MacKenzie , took up his post in 1981 just after those developments, and, according to Bruce Page, "changed
8858-548: The usual celebrity and domestic political news items with an entire issue devoted to his own front-line reporting of the genocide in Pol Pot's Cambodia , not only outsold The Sun on the day it was issued, but became the only edition of the Daily Mirror to ever sell every single copy issued, something never achieved by The Sun . In January 1986, Murdoch shut down the Bouverie Street premises of The Sun and News of
8961-422: Was " outed " by Matthew Parris (a former Sun columnist) on BBC TV's Newsnight in November 1998. Misjudging public response, The Sun 's editor David Yelland demanded to know in a front-page editorial whether Britain was governed by a "gay mafia" of a "closed world of men with a mutual self-interest". Three days later, the paper apologised in another editorial which said The Sun would never again reveal
9064-483: Was "an immense, sophisticated and superior middle class, hitherto undetected and yearning for its own newspaper. ... As delusions go, this was in the El Dorado class." Launched with an advertising budget of £400,000, the brash new paper "burst forth with tremendous energy" according to The Times . Its initial print run of 3.5 million was attributed to "curiosity" and the "advantage of novelty", and had declined to
9167-408: Was 4,305,957. The highest ever one-day sale was on 18 November 1995 (4,889,118), although the cover price had been cut to 10p. The highest ever one-day sale at full price was on 30 March 1996 (4,783,359). On 22 January 1997, The Sun accused the shadow chancellor Gordon Brown of stealing the Conservatives' ideas by declaring, "If all he is offering is Conservative financial restraint, why not vote for
9270-530: Was a British newspaper editor. He introduced the Page 3 feature to The Sun (for which he was editor from 1969 to 1972, and then again from 1975 to 1981), which saw a dramatic increase in sale in the 1970s. He also applied the term ' Winter of Discontent ' to the series of strikes over the winter of 1978–79. He was Deputy Chairman of News Group from 1979 but was transferred to the Western Mail in Australia in 1981, and edited The Australian in 1982. Lamb
9373-418: Was a terrible, insensitive, horrible article, with a dreadful headline; but what we'd also say is: we have apologised for it, and the entire senior team here now is completely different from the team that put the paper out in 1989." In May 2006, Kelvin MacKenzie , Sun editor at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, returned to the paper as a columnist. Furthermore, on 11 January 2007, MacKenzie stated, while
9476-541: Was born in Fitzwilliam , West Riding of Yorkshire , the son of Henry Lamb, a colliery surface blacksmith, and Coronetta Small. Called Albert, he adopted the name Larry from the lamb in Toytown , a BBC Children's Hour radio series. Lamb was educated at Rastrick Grammar School . Lamb was editor of The Sun from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1981, and also of the Daily Express from 1983 to 1986. He
9579-474: Was called "spectacularly malicious coverage" of the Labour Party by The Sun and other newspapers. During the 1983 UK general election , The Sun ran a front page featuring an unflattering photograph of Michael Foot , then aged almost 70, claiming he was unfit to be Prime Minister on grounds of his age, appearance and policies, alongside the headline "Do You Really Want This Old Fool To Run Britain?" A year later, The Sun made clear its enthusiastic support for
9682-507: Was convicted of criminal libel in one instance, but his scandal sheet may have contributed to several politicians losing their elections. After Morrison published an issue claiming that State Senator Mike Boylan had threatened to kill him, Boylan responded by helping to pass the Public Nuisance Bill of 1925. It allowed a single judge , without jury , to stop a newspaper or magazine from publishing, forever. Morrison died before
9785-456: Was first published as a broadsheet on 15 September 1964, with a logo featuring a glowing orange disc. It was launched by owners IPC (International Publishing Corporation) to replace the failing Daily Herald on the advice of market researcher Mark Abrams . The paper was intended to add a readership of "social radicals" to the Herald 's "political radicals". Of Abrams' work, Bernard Shrimsley wrote that 40 years later there supposedly
9888-581: Was northern editor of the Daily Mail in Manchester from 1968 until he was recruited by Rupert Murdoch to take over The Sun (recently bought from IPC). Lamb pioneered the paper's populist style, established the Page 3 feature, which he later regretted, and saw circulation dramatically increase. He insisted that Page 3 models were "nice girls", as "big-breasted girls look like tarts". He also applied
9991-492: Was not the only newspaper to print similar stories about the alleged drunkenness and violence among Liverpool fans at the Hillsborough disaster. The Daily Star and Daily Mail were among the newspaper who printed claims that hooliganism was a major factor in the tragedy; however, other papers' stories were presented less prominently. Alex Hern of the New Statesman noted that the Daily Express ' s headline on
10094-457: Was originally from a Labour background with a socialist upbringing, while his temporary replacement Bernard Shrimsley (1972–1975) was a middle-class uncommitted Conservative . An extensive advertising campaign on the ITV network in this period, voiced by actor Christopher Timothy , may have helped The Sun to overtake the Daily Mirror 's circulation in 1978. Despite the industrial relations of
10197-434: Was quoted as claiming that a group of Liverpool supporters told a police officer that they would have sex with a dead female victim. MacKenzie maintained for years that his "only mistake was to believe a Tory MP". In 1993, he told a House of Commons committee, "I regret Hillsborough. It was a fundamental mistake. The mistake was I believed what an MP said", but privately said at a 2006 dinner that he had only apologised under
10300-415: Was that "The only serious radicals in British politics these days are the likes of Redwood, Lilley and Portillo". It also gradually expressed its bitter disillusionment with John Major as Prime Minister, with headlines such as "What fools we were to back John Major". Between 1994 and 1996, The Sun 's circulation peaked. Its highest average sale was in the week ending 16 July 1994, when the daily figure
10403-473: Was the Sun after its original launch in 1964. Murdoch stopped publication there in 1969; this put the ageing Bouverie Street presses under extreme pressure as circulation grew. Additionally, Murdoch found he had such a rapport with Larry Lamb over lunch that other potential recruits as editor were not interviewed and Lamb was appointed as the first editor of the new Sun . Lamb wanted Bernard Shrimsley to be his deputy, which Murdoch accepted as Shrimsley had been
10506-425: Was the first to ban the paper from its public library, shortly after Page 3 began, because of its excessive sexual content. Shrimsley, Lamb's deputy, came up with the headline, "The Silly Burghers of Sowerby Bridge" to describe the councillors. The decision was reversed after a sustained campaign by the newspaper itself lasting 16 months, and the election of a Labour-led council in 1971. The Labour MP Alex Lyon waved
10609-439: Was wrecked by an Argentinian attack, The Sun was heavily criticised and even mocked in the Daily Mirror and The Guardian for its coverage of the war, and the wider media queried the veracity of official information and worried about the number of casualties, The Sun gave its response. "There are traitors in our midst", wrote leader writer Ronald Spark on 7 May, accusing commentators on Daily Mirror and The Guardian , plus
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