U.K. Tabloid ‘The Sun’ Continues Making Headlines Instead Of Writing Them


U.K. based tabloid newspaper The Sun is part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp conglomerate. The Sun is frequently accused of misleading headlines and very often of printing stories that are simply untrue. Perhaps the most damaging allegation against The Sun is the ongoing saga relating to the phone hacking scandal. Allegations that The Sun and other newspapers under the News Corp umbrella simply will not go away and it looks like allegation against The Sun are reemerging.

The Guardian reports that Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who sold information gained from phone hacking to newspapers, has made serious allegations against The Sun. Mr Mulcaire was arrested and eventually imprisoned for his part in the scandal and his arrest led to The Sun’s sister paper, the News Of The World being closed down and replaced with The Sun On Sunday.

Mulcaire has told the High Court in London that The Sun published numerous articles based on his phone hacking between 2004 and 2006. Mulcaire gave evidence claiming that News Of The World news editor Greg Miskiw directed him to hack telephone voicemails and the resulting information was published in both The Sun and The News Of The World.

“I am aware of stories that were published in the Sun that contained information that I obtained through the use of phone interception. Due to the length of time that has passed I cannot recall every story.”

“However, I do recall several particular stories that I was tasked to provide information on, where I am almost certain that the information that I obtained through phone interception was published in the Sun newspaper.”

According to Mulcaire phone hacking information was used for stories in The Sun about a convicted rapist who won the lottery whilst in prison, and another in a sex scandal article about a brothel receptionist and the soccer player Wayne Rooney.

According to the Independent, The Sun is also under attack from the son of former soccer star Gary Lineker. Earlier this week it was reported that Lineker and his wife Danielle Bux are to divorce. The Sun claimed that some members of the Lineker family were celebrating his father’s divorce. Lineker’s son has fiercely denied the claims and accuses The Sun of lying.

Gary Lineker described The Sun’s claims as a complete fabrication.

According to the Independent Rebekah Brooks, the Chief Executive in charge of Murdoch’s U.K. operations may be facing a a new legal battle over allegations against The Sun. Brooks was the editor at The Sun at the time the illegally obtained information was printed. Brooks has already face a lengthy criminal charge and was found not guilty. It is believed that the cost of defending actions against News Corp outlets including the The Sun already runs close to $1 billion.

Allegations of false and misleading stories published in The Sun are far from new. Way back in 2010 the Guardian reported that The Sun had to publish an apology to its readers after being forced to admit that they made up a story that claimed that al-Qaeda terrorists were planning to attack the set of Coronation Street, one of the U.K.’s favorite soap operas.

Just last month, the New Statesman reported that a story in The Sun claiming that Emile Ghessen, a freelance documentary maker and former Royal Marine, who said that he had smuggled himself from Turkey to Paris without using a passport, was false.

Model Katie Price has previously called out The Sun for running false stories about her. Given that allegations of this nature have been levelled at The Sun on so many occasions you would be forgiven for believing that this newspaper is seriously out of control and desperately in need of strong editorial control.

[Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis/AP]

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