Online Journalism News

Observer story slated

Sun Online editor Pete Picton has criticised the Observer and the Guardian for running a "wrong and misleading" news story which claimed the Sun was planning to cut web content in an attempt to drive readers back to the print newspaper.

On 12 September, the Observer newspaper reported that the Sun was planning to cut news and page 3 features from the website. It claimed that internal research had shown that the paper was losing 90,000 readers to the website every day.

"There is no such figure that I am aware of. All that content is all still there," said Mr Picton.

"I would have been happy to talk, but the Observer didn't phone me. That story was wrong and misleading."

The company did carry out research into the possible cannibalisation of offline products, said Mr Picton, but this found that 93,000 people could potentially stop reading the newspaper because 78 per cent of its readers are online.

"The question of cannibalisation is worthy of a whole separate debate in our industry, but it needs to be looked at sensibly rather than with that kind of story," he said.

Mr Picton was speaking at the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) annual conference in London on 21 October.

More news from dotJournalism:
Clouds gather over Sun Online
Murdoch tops Guardian media power list
The rise and rise of Sun Online
Sun shines online

See also:
Sun: http://www.the-sun.co.uk
Observer: http://observer.guardian.co.uk
Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
the observer | london | the sun | sun online | pete picton | the guardian | association of online publishers | web content | print newspaper | media power list | offline products |

Sign up here for our free, daily email newsletter to get all the latest stories, jobs, tips and more.

Got a story? Email our news team: Laura Oliver; Judith Townend or telephone +44 (0)1273 384290. You can also follow us on Twitter: @journalismnews / @LauraOliver / @JTownend.