Examination of Witnesses (Questions 1540
- 1559)
WEDNESDAY 16 JANUARY 2008
Ms Rebekah Wade
Q1540 Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick:
So the exact coverage is replicated?
Ms Wade: Well, exact coverage would be wrong
because obviously it has to be formatted differently. For example,
you might read a 1,500-word piece from Tom Newton-Dunne in Afghanistan
in the paper, but on-line, reading 1,500 words like that is not
user-friendly and on a mobile it certainly is not, so the format
may be different, but the actual editorial stance or content is
similar.
Q1541 Chairman:
How many permanent correspondents overseas do you have?
Ms Wade: We do not have overseas offices
Q1542 Chairman:
At all?
Ms Wade:apart from in America. The reason
for that is pretty obvious really, that our concentration is on
domestic news, but I have an editorial budget, as I said, which
enables me to send my reporters all around the world. It is not
unusual to have Tom Newton-Dunne in Afghanistan, George Pascoe-Watson
with the Prime Minister in China, I have got my foreign reporter,
Nick Parker, who can be in Sierra Leone, and I have got Oliver
Harvey, our chief feature writer, who has
Q1543 Chairman:
So you do it on a firefighter basis?
Ms Wade: Well, he is regularly in Africa. On
one of our campaigns, and in fact The Sun won an award
for our African coverage, he is permanently there, so do not be
swayed by the fact that we do not have bureaux; they travel all
the time.
Q1544 Lord Corbett of Castle Vale:
Ms Wade, do you have a policy for handling stories and, let us
say, difficult stories that relate to other News Corporation interests?
Ms Wade: No.
Q1545 Lord Corbett of Castle Vale:
You just treat them on the merits, as you would any other?
Ms Wade: Absolutely.
Q1546 Lord Corbett of Castle Vale:
Have you ever felt that you have been pressured to deal with a
story about another News Corporation company in a certain way?
Ms Wade: No, absolutely not, never. In fact
Sky News can be one of our biggest critics, although I always
forget the BBC, but no, absolutely not. It just does not happen.
Q1547 Chairman:
What were you going to say about Sky News?
Ms Wade: It is often very critical of The
Sun.
Q1548 Lord Corbett of Castle Vale:
It certainly enjoyed the help of The Sun when it started,
Sky.
Ms Wade: I was not the Editor.
Q1549 Lord Corbett of Castle Vale:
Well, it works both ways, does it not? You can do stuff you would
not normally do.
Ms Wade: Well, we do not.
Q1550 Lord Maxton:
How popular is the on-line? You have quite rightly said that Sky
News may report you, but I went on to your website last night
to have a look at what
Ms Wade: Good. You will be one of our 300 unique
users then yesterday.
Q1551 Lord Maxton:
Well, I have to say, it is probably about the only occasion in
my life I have actually read The Sun!
Ms Wade: So you are very qualified to be on
this Committee then!
Q1552 Lord Maxton:
But can I just make the point that there was video on that and
there were, I think, six video items on your website and three
of them were actually news items from Sky News, particularly the
Diana inquest, for instance, was straight from Sky News' coverage.
What is your relationship in that? Are you paying for that link?
Would you consider using BBC News rather than Sky News in that
situation?
Ms Wade: What you will have seen there is you
will have seen three from Sky
Q1553 Lord Maxton:
And three from your own people?
Ms Wade:and three from our own people
and you will also have seen news from Reuters. We find that video
is becoming more and more popular on The Sun website and
we are a newspaper, not a broadcaster, yet we want to provide
that video for our readers. Now, we are getting quite good at
videoing our own content now, so, if we do an interview, say,
with the Prime Minister, the traditional notebook and pen went
to being a tape-recorder and now is notebook, pen, video recorder,
camera, you know, we are all sort of getting that multimedia,
so the relationship with Sky is the same as it is with Reuters,
that we are looking at everyone for video content.
Q1554 Lord Maxton:
So you pay Sky for that link and those news stories at full commercial
price?
Ms Wade: I can get you the details of the deal.
It is not simple. It is the same with Reuters, it does not matter
that it is Sky, but I can send that in as a submission later on.
Q1555 Lord King of Bridgwater:
Last year, I think, was a record year for the number of complaints
to the Press Complaints Commission, I am not saying for The
Sun particularly, but for newspapers in general. You obviously
in your competition for stories, public interest stories, are
often seen as quite intrusive in people's lives. What is The
Sun's policy on privacy?
Ms Wade: Obviously The Sun's policy on
privacy is in line with the PCC Code of Conduct, but it is worth
mentioning, I think, that, as I said to you before, I am expected
to produce a paper to the very highest standards, not just adhering
to every letter of the Code, but also in making responsible judgments
on every story that comes our way. In the eight years that I have
been the Editor, I have only had three complaints upheld and in
fact in the last five years of editing The Sun, we have
had two. That is an incredibly good record, if you compare it
to the rest of Fleet Street, so I think not only am I telling
you that we really do adhere to the highest standards, but there
is also Press Complaints Commission evidence to support that.
Q1556 Lord King of Bridgwater:
Can I ask you this then: how many apologies have you issued in
your time as Editor?
Ms Wade: I could get that because there is an
absolute record, but I cannot remember the number. Obviously,
if somebody asks for an apology or a correction, then we will
do everything we can to establish if it is right, if they need
a correction and, if they do, we give it.
Q1557 Lord King of Bridgwater:
With equal prominence?
Ms Wade: With equal prominence. Yes, we have
quite strict rules about where apologies go and we always talk
to the complainant about the position in the paper and the position
is always to their satisfaction. That actually is one of the most
important things, the prominence and the position.
Q1558 Lord King of Bridgwater:
I think I may be alone in this, but I am staggered at the figure
you have given for what you think are the amount of times when
you have had a complaint upheld against you which raises one question
Ms Wade: Can I ask why you are staggered?
Q1559 Lord King of Bridgwater:
Well, I would have thought the public perception was that there
would have been more occasions on which there would have been
concern expressed.
Ms Wade: Well, perhaps if you checked with the
PCC, you would be less staggered about it because that is the
figure, three.
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