Could Richard Desmond be 'waiting in the wings' to buy the Sun?
One of the most striking comments on the crisis facing the Sun comes from Ian Burrell, Assistant Editor and Media Editor of The Independent. Writing today, he asks, "Is this the end of The Sun? " and suggests that Richard Desmond of the Express might be "waiting in the wings."
The Sun: What will Murdoch do?
"Rupert Murdoch is reportedly flying to the UK, " says Burrell, "ostensibly to save a newspaper he has loved since he bought it in 1969 from being engulfed by an unprecedented police bribery scandal."
But despite assurances , journalists on the tabloid were beginning to doubt it had a future, said Burrell.
Following the NotW closure, he says Sun staff recently have felt "anything but protected" by News International and "certainly not by the News Corp Management and Standards Committee (MSC), which is operating from separate offices within NI and has a remit to clean up the company's reputation."
The Sun's journalists are scared, he says. Dummy editions had been produced of a Sun on Sunday newspaper which NI had hoped to launch as a replacement for the News of the World. According to Burrell, "The arrests surely mean there is no prospect of that happening now."
Burrell adds, "Even if Mr Murdoch flies in, it is not clear just what he could do to help his stricken paper . . . he will come under great pressure to withdraw from a sector that contributes very little to his global media empire and has become a severe embarrassment."
The Sun, then, could go the way of the News of the World, says Burrell, adding, that there were options.
"Waiting in the wings, should Mr Murdoch decide to sell, are other magnates – most notably Richard Desmond, who has previously expressed interest in getting his hands on The Sun."
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