The Sun shone yesterday
Toby Young 2:49pm
According to early figures from wholesalers and retailers, the first edition of the Sun on Sunday has sold over three
million copies, a big win for Rupert Murdoch and the team of journalists — including yours truly — who had to get the new paper out at breakneck speed. Last week, the News Corp chairman
said on Twitter he’d be happy with anything substantially over two million. As it is, sales have comfortably
surpassed those recorded by the News of the World when it closed last year.
This rather gives the lie to all those commentators in the broadsheets who gave the new paper the thumbs-down over the weekend.
In the Guardian (circ: 229,753), Roy Greenslade described it as ‘unusually bland’,
while Matthew Engel in the FT (circ: 319,757) dismissed it as ‘timid, mumbling, joyless
and dull’.
Engel predicted that the new paper would have all the firepower of a ‘popgun’ in the circulation war Murdoch had unleashed by pricing it at 50p. Turns out it was more of a Howitzer,
with the sales of rival tabloids falling between 15 and 30 per cent. According to the Guardian, Trinity Mirror is the biggest loser:
Nearly all the broadsheet commentators complained that it lacked the vim and vinegar of the News of the World — which is a bit rich when you consider how much stick the News of the World came in for from those very same broadsheets last year. Even the Guardian’s Peter Preston said the new paper lacked ‘guilty pleasures’. Oh yeah? And whose fault is that, Peter? As ex-NOTW hack Jules Stenson tweeted earlier today: ‘Love all these liberal commentators wishing the new Sun was more like the NOTW. Not liking safety-first media culture you have created.’‘Early estimates indicate that the People could be down as much as 30% week-on-week to a circulation of about 560,000; while the Sunday Mirror is looking to be down by about a quarter to approximately 1.3m.’
The biscuit-taker in this respect was John Walsh in the Independent (circ: 124,248), who claims — implausibly — to have been relishing the prospect of a resurrected News of the World:
All this, of course, was just his way of setting-up the pay-off: ‘How disappointing to find it's exactly the same as the daily, only less so. It's the weekly Sun minus about 15 per cent of its style.’‘For nearly eight months, we've been breathless with expectation: imagine the vigour and cheek of The Sun allied to the campaigning zeal of the Screws. Imagine more kiss-and-tell footballer babes and Nazi S&M parlours, more fake sheiks and Pakistani spot-fixing, more swingers' clubs and imaginative uses for mobile phones. Would it be a rag we could treasure as a monument to British vulgarity, plumbing new depths of pun-riddled persiflage?’
Walsh’s comments sat a bit oddly with the more po-faced, censorious tone of the Independent’s editorial on Saturday, headlined ‘The dark side of the Sun on Sunday’:
So the Independent, the Guardian and the FT, who led the campaign to declaw Murdoch’s red-tops and neuter the tabloids in general, are now complaining that the Sun on Sunday didn’t launch with a blistering kiss-and-tell story? A tad hypocritical, even by their standards.‘Justifiable high-fives all round at Wapping and whistles from Mr Murdoch's fawning admirers? Hardly. The fallout from the appalling behaviour of some of his employees continues.’
Previous
RKing
February 27th, 2012 2:59pm Report this commentIt's still a load of c**p.
TrevorsDen
February 27th, 2012 3:14pm Report this commentThe left are waging a war in the media - sadly numpty papers like the Telegraph and the Spectator have not woken up to that yet.
When the Barclay Bros are sent on their way back to their little fiefdom then I might think of buying the Telegraph again. I have certainly no interest in buying a subscription to the the Spectator.
luke
February 27th, 2012 3:17pm Report this commentFancy a wager Toby? You'll have lost half a million of those readers by the end of March.
They went out and bought what they thought would be the News of the World and when they got just a few pages in realised they had something far more tepid.
£100?
The Crunge
February 27th, 2012 3:19pm Report this commentGo for it Toby - Stick to those hand-wringing, sanctimonious, economically illiterate left-wing bastards! Left-wing people just hate success, achievement and profit. Their gods are mediocrity, failure and laziness.
C Cole
February 27th, 2012 3:33pm Report this commentTo be fair to the Indie, at least they put their money where their mouth is by launching their own tabloid. Would love to see the Guardian try and produce a paper that actually made money.
Guido Fawkes
February 27th, 2012 3:35pm Report this commentStar sparkled too.
C Cole
February 27th, 2012 4:03pm Report this commentThe Sun proved its quality when the news broke that Bin Laden had been killed. With its overtones of good riddance to bad rubbish, 'Bin bagged' was by far the strongest front page on the subject of any tabloid paper the world over. Everyone else went for 'Bin Laden killed' or 'Bin Laden dead'. Fair enough, but it meant everyone else had essentially the same front page.
Guru McKenzie
February 27th, 2012 4:12pm Report this commentWell played Toby and all the nest with it - BUT it's still a tawdry piece of c**p
RKing
February 27th, 2012 4:13pm Report this commentGuido Fawkes
February 27th, 2012 3:35pm
Star sparkled too.
More "C**P"
Fergus Pickering
February 27th, 2012 4:18pm Report this commentI prefer the Guardian.
tubafoon
February 27th, 2012 4:19pm Report this commentwould you really want this man in charge of a school?
Chris lancashire
February 27th, 2012 4:32pm Report this commentWhat The Crunge said plus excellent to see Murdoch sticking it back up all those who used to fawn on NI then tried to stab them in the back.
Mr Chow
February 27th, 2012 4:35pm Report this commentDid he mention he's running a school?
MaxSceptic
February 27th, 2012 4:40pm Report this commentNormally I'd rather contract leprosy than buy a tabloid.
Yesterday - had I been able to - I'd have bought a copy out of solidarity (nasty leftie word, but it has its uses!)
Tron
February 27th, 2012 4:44pm Report this commentThe Liberal Left Elite ( Labour, Guardian, BBC etc.) say they hate Murdoch and The Sun but the people they really hate are the millions of readers. The people they never meet or talk to.
You know, the Great British Working Class.
johno
February 27th, 2012 4:57pm Report this commentI've never bought a red top in my life, but went out and bought the Sun on Sunday just for the hell of it. I wasn't expecting much and frankly I was right - apart from a few gems like Toby's column obviously. (Where is Trevor Kavanagh when you need him?). Why did I buy it then? Because I want the paper to be a great big juicy success, to smash the trashy Sunday Mirror and to stick two fingers up at the hypocritical "liberal" media and Cooganistas who have danced on the NOTW's grave. No - I am not being ironic.
LibertarianLou
February 27th, 2012 5:07pm Report this commentPeople didn't criticise the NOTW for kiss and tell stories. They were criticised for breaking the law and printing vindictive/untrue stuff, and bribing the police.
There is a massive difference and it's a bit disingenuous to pretend the reason "liberals" (or anyone who believes in the rule of law, actually) wanted them to be held to account for the phone hacking scandal is against kiss and tell gossip!
jon dee
February 27th, 2012 5:36pm Report this commentMy busy village newsagent busier than ever, with " customers returning " and " many Sunday Times readers doubling-up " with the Sun on Sunday.
I joined this new band - bugger Leveson, whining lefties and the unread piles of the Mirror and People. Read Guido in the shop, but did'nt buy.
Well done all - page three was a bit discreet though.
johngerard
February 27th, 2012 5:42pm Report this commentI don't see what the big deal is. The 'News of The World' was just the 'Sun on Sunday' anyway, and the 'Sun on Sunday' is just the News of the World which was a Sunday version of the Sun...er, help me out here, I'm getting slightly confused...
In any case, it was thrilling to watch BBC talking heads salivating at the prospect of The Sun being shut down - they really were chomping at the bit, truly expecting it to be on the cards - and then Murdoch drops a laser guided bomb on them with his amnnouncement. It was worth it to see the 'Sun on Sunday' being published for that alone...I could hear the howls and screams of indignation from Islington on the other side of London.
Frederick de Fossard
February 27th, 2012 5:51pm Report this commentJohno, I entirely agree. And of course I feel that as a fan of The Times, buying The Sun keeps it alive. May even buy Sky one day.
Anna
February 27th, 2012 6:09pm Report this commentPatronising critiques aside, how well the new Sunday Sun did will be reflected in whether yesterday's Sunday sales are matched by NEXT Sunday's sales. I didn't buy it, but then I didn't buy the NOTW either: just not my choice of Sunday fare. However I wish it well and the more palpitations it causes among Guardianistas and their ilk, the more I'll think they aren't winning their war against free speech and the happier I'll be.
Baron
February 27th, 2012 6:11pm Report this commentMaxSceptic, Tron and johno, hear, hear, boys.
and keep it up, Toby, keep hitting the pseudo-liberal fruitcakes hard.
Fergus Pickering
February 27th, 2012 6:34pm Report this commentOh dear, there he goes again, McFergus. Not only drunk but stupid too. Nobody intelligent reads The Guardian, or writes for it either.
Dimoto
February 27th, 2012 7:14pm Report this commentLibertarian Lou -
1) If the "Inquiry" had put equal effort into pursuing the (deeply compromised) Guardian and Mirror, you might have a point.
Cameron used the Blair tactic of setting up an inquiry with vague TOR, and a vain judge entranced by 'B' list celebs, (he allegedly attended Murdoch parties before the hearings), to let the public and the Celebrati vent their synthetic outrage and make a few bob out of Murdoch.
Dimoto
February 27th, 2012 7:15pm Report this comment2) Beyond that, it has no significance.
It's not a moral arbiter for the press or public behaviour, it won't identify the "guilty men", and it won't produce any useful recommendations.
(see Hutton, Chilcot etc)
WIlliam Blakes Ghost
February 27th, 2012 7:58pm Report this commentWhat do you expect from these propaganda comics of the liberal malignancy?
Holly ......
February 27th, 2012 8:13pm Report this commentLuke.3.17.
Sorry but people went out and bought the Sun on Sunday.
Even I got a copy and will continue to do so.
The News Of The World was one of the first papers I stopped buying, because it was cr@p. Full of stories about who was doing who & who had stopped who from speaking out.
Over the next few weeks the sales may go up or down a bit, but I reckon it's here to stay.
With the negative,nasty alternatives the Sun will now out sell them seven days a week instead of six.
Tee hee.
David Lindsay
February 27th, 2012 11:13pm Report this commentHas anyone ever seem Toby Young and Katie Price in the same room?
bob woods
February 28th, 2012 7:18am Report this commenthave you apologised yet for your "that murdered girl" tweet Toby? Glad that your moral compass (or lack of it) is being exposed. If a teacher had these attitudes the Sun would persue them as unfit to teach. what price owning/running a school? or even have the rag in the Staff Room?
Jeremy
February 28th, 2012 7:19am Report this commentIf your journalistic skills are matched to equivalent comprehension skills, maybe you would have considered the (enormous) likelihood that Walsh wasnt really eagerly anticipating any of the tripe that he mentioned.
I still find it absolutely hilarious that any joirnalist takes him/herself seriously.
48Crash
February 28th, 2012 7:54am Report this commentI suppose 'the paper that supports our boys, and pays some of their senior officers a retainer for gossip about Prince Harry' would take up too much space.
But since you're on the staff Mr Young, how much is it for a lapdog nowadays?
Nicholas
February 28th, 2012 10:33am Report this commentI love the way that the give and take of corruption has been slyly re-worked to "making payments" or "bribing the police" as though New Labour's self-publicising, political police are somehow themselves innocent victims too (q.v. LibertarianLou, etc.).
The culmination of this was that assistant commissioner speaking at the Leveson inquiry as though she was somehow totally distant from the activities going on and had no responsibility, culpability or accountability for what men and women were doing in a police organisation that she helps to manage. Staggeringly bare faced but very New Labour.
Dandy,Lion & Murdoch
February 28th, 2012 12:14pm Report this commentSun on Sunday 'huge success' says Sun on Monday.
Irascible Old Git
February 28th, 2012 12:53pm Report this commentGod, that New Labour lot are an insidious crew, eh Nicholas.
Were they also responsible for hiring Andy Coulson?
What a bunch of bastards.
E Hart
February 28th, 2012 2:36pm Report this commentThe appearance of the Sun on Sunday is about as welcome as the sight of Izal in a lavatory cubicle.
Nicholas
February 28th, 2012 3:11pm Report this commentWell, IOG, it's certainly true that New Labour are an insidious lot but you and I both know who hired Andy Coulson. The question is how relevant that fact is to the point I was making about the way the corruption is being reported?
Not very I would suggest, however much facetiousness you try to weave into your little put down.
Irascible Old Git
February 28th, 2012 4:20pm Report this commentLet me spell it out for you then, Nick.
Blaming New Labour for the apparent corrupt practices established between the Murdoch press and the Metropolitan Police is a bit like saying that the Moon landings and Mao's Cultural Revolution are related, just because they co-existed in the same time frame.
I may have been facetious but your explanations are merely facile.
Nicholas
February 29th, 2012 9:27am Report this commentIOG you lost it by calling me Nick. That demonstrates you are just another boring left wing troll hiding behind a pseudonym, as they all do that silly diminutive thing with real names. There must be a course where it is taught, probably at taxpayers expense.
And just to spell it out to you too I was not blaming New Labour for the corrupt practices but merely drawing attention to the way the corruption is being reported and the way the Met are distancing themselves from involvement and responsibility for it. Try reading the post instead of inventing it.
There is, however, absolutely no doubt that the Met and most of the supposedly politically neutral civil service were both politicised and corrupted during the 13 ghastly years of New Labour's occupation of Britain which is why they now still churn out New Labour claptrap and manipulated, politically correct language.
Irascible Old Git
February 29th, 2012 10:21am Report this commentBullshit.
Forgoodorill
March 2nd, 2012 9:24am Report this commentI wonder if you would be so zealous in defence if you weren't on satans payroll? Let's face facts, yes the sales were better than the broadsheets, however, I think it's safe to say the majority of the people who read the rag are below average intelligence. I'd take hundreds of thousands of people who are capable of free thought over millions who get their opinions from "news"paper, Opinions that polarise every few months depending on which way Murdoch is feeling. Hope the money is worth it Toby.
lavery jools
March 8th, 2012 3:48pm Report this commentto all the people dismayed at how well the sunonsunday is selling ,dont be .i have worked in the industry for 20 yrs + .i deliver the paper and pick up the returns .desite printing less copies than notw the returns are running at around 35 % which is far worse than news int is telling everyone .sales of 3.26 million is a joke not even close they are hyping up sales to make it look good. truth is its a complete disaster ,not good for us delivery drivers .the figure of 3.26 million was released before the returns had even been lifted are you getting the picture .dont believe all you read in newspapers you should know that by now .
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