News International set to launch new Sunday edition of the Sun
Published:
NEWS International, the former owner of the now-defunct News of the World, is preparing to launch a Sun on Sunday in three months’ time, it has emerged.
Staff have already started working on the new tabloid, which will go on sale on 29 April.
Meanwhile, James Murdoch is to step down from the board of drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline to spend more time on his new role as News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer in the United States.
Mr Murdoch was promoted from his role as chief executive for Europe and Asia after surviving the fallout of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
Rumours of a small team of designers and editors working on a new dummy template Sunday publication first emerged about a month after the closure of the News of the World. The Sun’s editorial staff appeared to increase by about 60, with many former management staff in duplicate roles but with different job titles.
Development is believed to have been quickly shelved in the summer after Mr Murdoch told a committee of MPs that the publisher had “no immediate plans” for a launch.
But the rumours gathered momentum this week when Tom Watson, MP, who sits on the Commons culture, media and sport committee and is an outspoken critic of News International, tweeted: “A News Corp source tells me Rupert Murdoch has seen the draft designs of the Sunday Sun with a launch in April at a discounted price.”
It is believed that a number of former employees, both full-time and casual staff, are involved.
News International has declined to comment.
