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Some senior News of the World staff set to take roles at successor to tabloid that closed amid phone-hacking scandal
The Sun on Sunday will be launched next weekend as the successor to the defunct News of the World, which was closed down last July following revelations of phone hacking at the tabloid.
In an email that acknowledged the parent company's past wrongdoing but also struck a defiant tone, staff were told the launch date by News International's chief executive, Tom Mockridge.
He said that Rupert Murdoch, who told staff at the Sun's Wapping headquarters on Friday that a new Sunday newspaper would be coming out "very soon", will remain in London to oversee the publication of the new title, which is expected to be a seventh day of the Sun rather than a separate, standalone newspaper.
"As you know, News Corporation has made clear its determination to sort out what has gone wrong in the past and we are fundamentally changing how we operate as a business," said Mockridge.
"The commitment of News Corporation to invest in a new edition is the strongest possible message of support we could wish for. We will have to act quickly over the coming days."
"This is our moment. I am sure every one of us will seize the opportunity to pull together and deliver a great new dawn for the Sun this Sunday."
Mockridge's email said that he wanted staff "to be the first to know" about the launch date, which was announced on the Sun's website on Sunday night and was the front page story in its Monday edition.
Although it remains unclear who will edit the new title, he or she is expected to ultimately answer to Dominic Mohan, the editor of the Sun. He said: "This is a truly historic moment in newspaper publishing and I am proud to be part of it. The Sun's future can now be reshaped as a unique seven-day proposition in both print and digital. Our readers' reaction to the announcement of a seventh-day Sun has been huge and we won't let them down."
It is understood from sources at Wapping that there will be a senior role at the new title for Victoria Newton, the former News of the World deputy editor who has been editing the Saturday edition of the Sun.
There is also speculation that Fabulous magazine, which survived the closure of the News of the World and was moved to the Saturday edition of the Sun, will be included in the Sun on Sunday package.
Newton was one of relatively few former News of the World journalists to have found another job at News International. Just over 20 out of about 200 have stayed with the publisher while 89 had taken redundancy.
David Wooding, former political editor of the News of the World, told BBC Radio 5 Live that he would be resuming his old position at the new title. Wooding told Sky News earlier in the day that the announcement had come as a surprise, adding: "We heard rumours of a date in April. This evening, astonishingly, we are told it's going to happen next week.
"We don't even know what the staffing levels will be at this stage. I'm told there will be extra staff taken on but this is not the News of the World in another guise, this is The Sun publishing on another day."
Murdoch returned to Wapping on Friday to deal with the biggest crisis at News International since 1986, trying to quell a rebellion by staff angry at the recent arrests of Sun journalists. He also lifted the suspension of the 10 arrested, inviting them to return to work "until or whether charged".
While pledging "unwavering support" for his journalists, he also vowed to root out wrongdoing at News International. The Sun has been rocked by the arrests of 10 current and former senior reporters and executives since November over alleged corrupt payments to public officials.
The timing of the launch will take the focus of attention off alleged criminality at News International.
On 27 February, the day after the paper launches, singer Charlotte Church is taking the publisher to the high court over alleged phone hacking by the News of the World.
She is one of 60 public figures, sports people, politicians and celebrities who took civil action against News International, but the only one currently scheduled go to full trial after 54 other litigants including Steve Coogan, Jude Law and Sadie Frost decided to settle out of court.
The same day, the Leveson inquiry into press standards will also resume, putting the police relationship with newspapers under scrutiny for the second module of the public investigation.
The News of the World was Murdoch's first UK newspaper acquisition in 1968 and its profits helped him build his publishing and broadcasting empire in this country and the US. The Sunday tabloid newspaper market saw an unprecedented circulation boost in the immediate aftermath of its closure, leaving the Sun on Sunday with the initial task of vying for the loyalty of readers who switched to the News of the World's rivals or simply stopped buying a newspaper on Sundays. Northern & Shell's Daily Star on Sunday made the biggest gain from the News of the World's demise.