THE SUN ON Sunday newspaper has been launched in Britain and Ireland.
The Irish edition of the newpaper – the Irish Sun on Sunday – is on sale for €1 and leads today with singer Brian Kennedy’s criticism of pop duo Jedward as they prepare for their second attempt at winning the Eurovision contest.
The paper also includes columns from TV star Jennifer Maguire, model Glenda Gilson, crime writer Paul Williams and former Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane.
The paper’s launch follows the closure of owner News International’s Sunday titles the News of The World and Irish News of The World last summer over the ongoing phone hacking scandal in the UK.
BBC News reports that the British edition of the newspaper has had a print run of three million copies and hopes to sell two million copies in its first week. It leads with an interview with Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden.
The paper includes a column from model Katie Price – once known as Jordan – who pays tribute to the Sunday Times foreign correspondent Marie Colvin who was killed in Syria this week. ”She was just the sort of woman who impresses me – utterly fearless,” she writes.
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal and the ex-partner of former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson, Nancy Dell’Olio, also pen columns for the paper today.
Meanwhile, the Scottish edition of the newspaper – The Scottish Sun on Sunday – claims to have a ‘world exclusive’ as it names the date of the referendum on Scottish independence as Saturday, 18 October 2014.
The paper’s proprietor and News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, who has been overseeing the launch in London in recent days, tweeted yesterday to thank staff for their “fantastic achievement” in producing the paper.
The launch of the Sunday edition of the tabloid, the best-selling paper in Britain, is not universally welcomed however.
Liverpool and Cardiff City football fans will protest against the launch at the Carling Cup final in London today. Supporters plan to hold up posters urging a boycott of the paper prior to the clash at Wembley stadium.
Liverpool fans have boycotted the paper for the past 23 years after it printed false allegations about supporters following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Cardiff fans recently launched a boycott of the newspaper in response to its coverage of the death of supporter Mike Dye last year.
Both sets of supporters say they will extend their boycott to the Sunday edition.
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