Sunday round up: Eastenders, Sunday Herald, Twitter, Wikileaks, BBC
This morning's round up of media, marketing and technology news sees celebrities under fire for the online product endorsements, a new look for the Sunday Herald, and the Eastenders controversy continue to rumble on.
Following the brouhaha surrounding Eastenders baby swap, cot death plot, which has now received a record number of complaints to Ofcom, departing actress Samantha Womack has claimed the storyline has made her life ‘a living hell’. The News of the World claims that the actress wants to leave the show sooner than the expected May departure date, and that Eastenders producers have also recorded a new ending to the plot.
The newly relaunched Sunday Herald hit shelves this morning, as a single-section news magazine. The BBC reports this morning that the relaunch of the publication is an attempt by parent company Newquest Herald & Evening Times ‘a sustainable future’ although no target circulation figure has yet been announced.
Another Sunday newspaper set for change is the Irish Daily Star Sunday, which is set to close, resulting in the loss of 17 jobs. The Belfast Telegraph reports that the loss of the title will have no affect on the Irish Daily Star however.
Former foreign secretary David Milliband has pitched some television programme ideas to the BBC, fuelling speculation that he does not plan on returning to politics. According to The Sunday Express, Milliband, who lost the recent Labour leadership election to his brother Ed, has approached the broadcasting organisation with ideas for new programmes it could produce.
Twitter has been ordered by a court in America to hand over the personal details of five people connected to whistle blowing website Wikileaks. The Telegraph reports that private messages, bank information and contact details for the websites founder Julian Assange were some of the demands made by a court in Virginia to Twitter last month, according to court documents which were unsealed last week.
Meanwhile, dozens of celebrities including Liz Hurley and Lily Allen face court action should they not cease to endorse products through their blogs and Twitter accounts without declaring whether they have been paid to do so. The Daily Mail claims that the Office of Fair Trading plans to crackdown on celebrity endorsement having already brought action against a PR firm that was found to be paying bloggers to write positive reviews about their clients products.