Monthly Archives: January 2012

Plans for Sun on Sunday on hold after arrests; News Corp loses second senior PR exec

By January 31 2012, 9:31 am Leave a comment

Plans for the launch of the Sun on Sunday, which had been planned for April, have been put on hold following the arrests at the weekend of four current and former senior Sun journalist in connection with phone hacking, according to insiders quoted by the FT.

The plans to put the paper on hold come as News Corporation last night announced the loss of its second senior public relations executive in as many days as news broke that chief spokeswoman Teri Everett is leaving. She had most recently worked on shepherding the company’s PR efforts through a phone hacking scandal in London Read more »

News International parts company with top PR man

By January 27 2012, 3:26 pm Leave a comment

The senior departures at News International are coming thick and fast. This week alone has seen the troubled company has parted ways with its strategy director Terence Cassaon as well as with two commercial executives.

Now it is the turn of close associate of James Murdoch, Matthew Anderson, to leave. He is News Corporation’s group director, strategy and corporate affairs for Europe and Asia, and often described as Murdoch’s right hand man. Read more »

Murdoch to launch Sun on Sunday in April, says source

By January 23 2012, 11:46 am Leave a comment

I wrote a few things last year about News International possibly launching The Sun on Sunday, in the wake of the demise of the News of the World, and how it could be a success.

It all went quiet on The Sun on Sunday front after that as the hacking saga rumbled on. We’ve heard nothing since October, but apparently a launch could again be back on the agenda with the new paper on our newsstands as early as the Spring. Read more »

Unilever under fire for treatment of workers in Unite video

By January 23 2012, 9:02 am Leave a comment

A powerful video here from the trade union Unite attacking the employment practices of Unilever and the treatment of its staff as it seeks to change its existing pension scheme.

The video, which also attacks Unilever’s use of cheap foreign labour to produce products, argues that the change to the pension scheme will see thousands of workers retire on a pension reduced by as much as 40%. Read more »

How News International hid the phone-hacking scandal

By January 20 2012, 8:20 am Leave a comment

After News International yesterday paid out what is expected to be a healthy seven figure sum to 37 phone hacking victims, who had been targeted by the News of the World, high court judge, Mr Justice Vos, said that the Rupert Murdoch-owned company had made “an admission of sorts” that it deliberately engaged in a cover-up of evidence relating to phone hacking.

The judge said he had seen evidence which raised “compelling questions about whether you [News Group Newspapers] concealed, told lies, actively tried to get off scot free”. Read more »

News International to payout to 37 hacking victims

By January 19 2012, 11:35 am Leave a comment

News International has agreed to pay settlements to 37 victims of News of the World phone-hacking scandal in civil settlements. Among those receiving payouts are actor Jude Law, Labour MPs Denis MacShane and Chris Bryant, Ashley Cole and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott.

Most people pursuing damages from New International have now settled, according to lawyers. Law alone has been paid £130,000 in damages. Read more »

The “rubber will hit the road” for the US in 2013, says Sorrell

By January 19 2012, 9:33 am Leave a comment

With client confidence down, according to today’s IPA’s Bellwether report, Sir Martin Sorrell has popped up to say that WPP had a stronger than expected finish to 2011 and is looking forward to improving conditions in the US ahead of a lucrative period of election campaign spending.

However, 2013 things will again get bumpy, he says in an interview in the FT. Read more »

BSkyB accused of playing politics as it prepares axe for Current TV UK

By January 12 2012, 8:48 am Leave a comment

There is something of a row brewing between BSkyB and the liberal current affairs station CurrentTV, which was founded by former vice president Al Gore, after Sky said it was to pull the station from its pay TV line-up.

BSkyB says it is pulling the station due to persistently low ratings, but Current has hit back and said the move is politically motivated. Read more »

Star Wars Uncut: the two hour fan version irector’s Cut

By January 10 2012, 12:49 pm Leave a comment

This is quite a work of genius. It is Star Wars Uncut – the first film retold in 15-second intervals with live acting, animation and puppets to produce something much larger than its parts.

In 2009, Casey Pugh asked thousands of Internet users to remake “Star Wars: A New Hope” into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. Within just a few months SWU grew into a wild success. The creativity that poured into the project was unimaginable. Read more »

Miliband in new Twitter (Private Eye) shock

By January 10 2012, 9:39 am Leave a comment

On the day Ed Miliband relaunches his strategy and takes a a hammering on Twitter as negative reaction pours in.

Private Eyes has a cover to remind Miliband of his #blackbusters problems last week. It isn’t the first Twitter frontpage, we got that last year with the Superinjunctions, which is also posted below.

Read more »

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