When Rupert Murdoch closed without too many regrets "News of The World", the weekly overwhelmed in London by the telephone tapping scandal, many thought that the most important publisher in the world already had a spare card ready. The shark" he's not the type to give up the income that came from the world's most widely read English-language newspaper just to please the public and without having anything else in mind. Six months later, he's ready for battle again. "News of the World" was replaced by the new Sunday edition of the "Sun", of which it was already a close relative. Change the name of the masthead, but not the contents which will live up to the traditions: scandals, topless girls next door, sexual scoop on politicians and celebrities.
And lest anyone think that old Rupert has given up, the price of the "Sun on Sunday” was set to 50 pence, half that of rival tabloids. The decision unleashed a spectacular new price war, not seen in London for some time: the "Sunday Mirror", "People" and the "Daily Star Sunday" have halved the cost of the cover, the "Sunday Mail" has reduced it by almost two thirds in some regions of Scotland . In response, Murdoch also dropped the price of the Saturday-released Sun by 17% to 50p, forcing the Daily Star to do the same.
Everyone is enjoying the show, which has just begun. Even when he bought the Times in 1981, Murdoch started a ruthless price war that left his competitors in trouble: leading a publishing, television and film empire, he can afford to lose some pennies to implement a relentless predatory dumping, which once again will leave dead and wounded on the field. All the competing newspapers had greatly benefited from the closure of News of the World with sales increases ranging from 24% for the Daily Mirror to 34% for the Daily Star.
Now the party is over, and the return to reality will be very abrupt. On the other hand, the "Sun” is, with the “Wall Street Journal”, the only newspaper that still gives some satisfaction to Rupert Murdoch. Its readership has grown by 3% in the last year, despite (or perhaps thanks to) the indictments of many of its journalists and executives for illegal wiretapping and bribing police officials. The "Times” instead continues to be a source of trouble: readership dropped by an average of 11%, which means that the newspaper has lost another 200 readers along the way, and the paid website has seen, predictably, a drop in contacts. Among the few good recent news of English publishing, the great recovery of free, with "Metro” which marks a +17% and the “London Evening Standard” a +4%. The share of free press that managed to survive the great economic crisis warms up the muscles to return to the field, fiercer than ever.
