It is “highly probable” that the Sun on Sunday will launch in January, media commentator Stephen Glover predicted in the Independent today.

In his article on the rumoured new Sunday paper, Glover also explains why he thinks a Sun on Sunday makes better business sense than the News of the World, which “despite selling some 2.8 million copies a week, was barely breaking even”.

Glover argues that the Sun will need to recruit a fraction of the 160 News of the World journalists in order to “produce a seventh-day edition of the newspaper”.

If it sells at 50p (half the price of the News of the World, and cheaper than Sunday red-top rivals) it would probably be profitable with a circulation of a million. In the event, it may well sell many more copies than that.

Glover describes the axing of the News of the World and anticipated creation of the seven-day Sun as a “cynical charade” by the Murdochs.

In other words, far from being a sacrifice, shutting down the Sunday red-top and launching a seventh-day edition of The Sun carries a significant economic benefit. The Murdochs were able to represent themselves as acting decisively and almost altruistically – rather as a farmer might regretfully shoot a rabid dog that has been a cherished family pet. Now it turns out that the dog was old, unloved and expensive to keep, and there is a young puppy waiting in the wings which will be a much better proposition. The whole process has been a cynical charade.

He also argues the case against the launch of a red-top title from Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail. After an initial boost for the Mail on Sunday, sales have now slowed, according to August circulation figures, and Glover suggests “Associated would probably be wise to stay away”.

Glover’s full post is at this link.

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The Mail on Sunday is preparing a direct mail campaign, targeting 1.5 million News of the World readers in a bid to capitalise on the newspaper’s closure, according to Media Week.

Marketing bosses for the Mail started planning the marketing campaign the day after the closure of New of the World was announced, the article states.

The campaign kicks off on Monday and the DMGT-owned paper will target homes across the country.

The campaign marks one of the biggest in the Sunday title’s history.

It is thought the publisher is also considering other marketing activities, including above-the-line activity, as it looks to lure the 2.6 million former NotW readers.

The short article goes on to say other Sunday papers the Daily Star Sunday and the Sunday Mirror are preparing “similar promotional blitzes”.

Media Week’s full article is at this link.

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Columnist Suzanne Moore’s career has has taken her, somewhat improbably, from Marxism Today to the Mail on Sunday, via the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, a stab at politics. This weekend gone Moore began writing for the Guardian anew. On Friday she was in Bristol to deliver the annual Benn Lecture.

I never applied to be a newspaper columnist, there’s no job application form, and it certainly wasn’t the family business … I’d always liked reading, but I came from the sort of family where it was seen as a sign of depression.

Listen to full lecture at this link.

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Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association, has made a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) about the Mail on Sunday report into allegations of corruption in the World Cup bidding process.

Reports the Guardian:

In the extract that led to Triesman resigning the Mail on Sunday wrote that he “accused rival nations of corruption” in their bids to host the World Cup. The paper wrote that Triesman “accused” the Spanish and Russian football authorities of planning to bribe referees in this summer’s World Cup. Triesman was described as making “the extraordinary claim” that Spain’s FA might drop out of its joint bid with Portugal for 2018 in return for Russia helping to bribe match officials.

Triesman says the article has breached three clauses of the Editors’ Code of Practice – accuracy, privacy and subterfuge.

Full story on Guardian.co.uk at this link…

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In case you missed reading an extract of Heather Brooke’s new book, ‘The Silent State’, in the Mail on Sunday, here’s a link…

A second excerpt will be published next Sunday. Last weekend’s extract focused on expenses.

An early reporting experience in America taught her ” that transparency keeps those in power honest: more than any regulator, any bureaucracy or set of rules,” she writes.

The Telegraph did a phenomenal job presenting the data, and I don’t begrudge them anything, even if they did take away my scoop.

Brooke collected the judge’s award at last night’s British Press Awards for her campaigning over MPs’ expenses.

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Digital Spy picks up on BBC newsreader Peter Sissons’ piece about the BBC in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, and reports that ‘he has blamed ‘political correctness’ for falling standards at the corporation.’

“The 66-year-old broadcaster, who recently announced his retirement, claimed that senior BBC figures are afraid to challenge journalists when they make mistakes.

“Writing in The Mail On Sunday, he commented: “At today’s BBC, a complaint I often heard from senior producers was that they dared not reprimand their subordinates for basic journalistic mistakes – such as getting ages, dates, titles and even football scores wrong – it being politically incorrect to risk offending them.”

Full story at this link…

Sissons’ article does not appear to be available online at the time of writing, but the Mail on Sunday’s own report can be found at this link.

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Tom Watson MP has published a release from law firm Carter Ruck in full on his blog, after false allegations were made against the politician in a Mail on Sunday article by political blogger Iain Dale.

Dale’s piece alleged that Watson had been copied into ‘smear’ emails sent by former Downing Street aide Damian McBride.

Associated Newspapers, owners of the MoS, has accepted the allegations were untrue, apologised to Watson and paid him ‘substantial damages’ and costs.

Full release at this link…

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Neville Hobson flags up the Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday’s reporting of Twitter. “Unfortunately, both papers have done it in a way that demonstrates the journalists’ (and their editors’) utter lack of understanding of the social and business drivers underpinning much of the growth in use of Twitter,” Hobson writes.

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