You can’t walk into a British newsagent without seeing that thick, red masthead staring at you. It’s unavoidable. For decades, British newspapers The Sun has been the loudest voice in the room, a chaotic mix of celebrity gossip, fierce political campaigning, and sports coverage that hits like a sledgehammer. It’s the paper people love to hate, yet millions still click, share, and buy it every single day.
If you grew up in the UK, The Sun wasn’t just a newspaper; it was basically a cultural weather vane. It told you who to vote for, which celebrity was cheating on their spouse, and why the England manager was a "turnip." But things have changed. The digital shift and some massive scandals have forced the paper to evolve.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a survivor.
While other broadsheets were busy being polite, The Sun was busy being loud. It understood something very specific about the British psyche: we want our news fast, punchy, and preferably with a bit of a wink. But there's a darker side too. From the tragedy of Hillsborough to the phone-hacking trials that rocked Fleet Street, the paper’s history is as messy as it is influential.
The Murdoch Revolution and the Birth of a Giant
The Sun didn’t start out as a tabloid titan. In fact, it was born in 1964 as a broadsheet, replacing the Daily Herald. It was failing. It was dull. Then came Rupert Murdoch in 1969. He bought it for a song and turned it into a tabloid, basically throwing out the rulebook on what "serious" journalism looked like.
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He brought in Larry Lamb as editor. Lamb had a simple philosophy: give the people what they want, and make it snappy. This was the era that birthed the infamous Page 3. While that’s gone from the print edition now (finally ending in 2015), it defined the paper's "lads' mag" energy for nearly half a century.
It worked. By the late 70s, it was the best-selling daily newspaper in the UK.
The paper’s power peaked during the Thatcher years. When the 1992 general election came around, and it looked like Labour might actually win, The Sun went on the offensive against Neil Kinnock. After the Conservatives pulled off a shock victory, the paper famously ran the headline: "IT'S THE SUN WOT WON IT." Political scientists have argued about that claim for decades, but the fact remains—the Westminster elite was terrified of them.
Why British Newspapers The Sun Hits Differently
What makes The Sun actually work as a business? It’s the language. If you look at a copy of The Guardian or The Times, the vocabulary is academic. The Sun writes for a reading age of about eight or nine. That’s not an insult to the readers; it’s a masterclass in communication.
They use:
- Short, punchy sentences.
- Alliteration (think "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster").
- Aggressive puns.
- Strong emotional triggers.
It’s about "common sense" politics. They position themselves as the voice of the "working man," even when their editorial stances align with billionaire interests. It’s a weird paradox. You have a paper owned by one of the wealthiest men on earth claiming to be the underdog fighting against "woke" elites or Brussels bureaucrats.
The Sports Machine
You can’t talk about this paper without talking about football. Their sports section is arguably the best in the country in terms of raw "scoops." They have agents on speed dial. If a Premier League player is moving clubs, The Sun usually knows before the player's own mum does. For a huge chunk of their readership, the paper is bought solely for the back pages.
The Shadow of Hillsborough and Ethical Failures
We have to talk about the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. It’s the single biggest stain on the paper’s history and explains why, if you go to Liverpool today, you still won't find many shops stocking it.
After 97 Liverpool fans died in a crush at the stadium, The Sun ran a front page titled "THE TRUTH." It claimed fans picked the pockets of the dead and urinated on police. It was a lie. A total, fabricated lie fed to them by sources looking to shift blame away from the police.
The fallout was permanent.
- A massive, city-wide boycott in Liverpool that continues to this day.
- Years of denials before a formal apology was issued in 2012.
- A total collapse of trust among a huge demographic of the UK.
Then came the phone-hacking scandal in the early 2010s. While The News of the World (The Sun’s Sunday sister paper) was the one that got shut down, The Sun was dragged through the mud during the Leveson Inquiry. It exposed a culture of paying public officials for tips and invading the privacy of victims of crime. It was a wake-up call for the entire industry.
Surviving the Digital Pivot
How is it still around? Basically, they stopped fighting the internet and started dominating it.
The Sun’s website is a beast. They use a high-volume, "churn and burn" strategy. While some papers like The Telegraph went behind a hard paywall, The Sun tried a paywall, realized it was killing their reach, and tore it down in 2015. Now, they rely on massive scale.
They are experts at SEO. If there is a trending topic—a new Netflix show, a celebrity breakup, or a change in the weather—The Sun will have five different articles live within minutes. They don't just write news; they write for the algorithm.
The Sun’s Digital Strategy:
- Search-driven content: Answering basic questions like "What time is the boxing on tonight?"
- Affiliate marketing: Their "Sun Selects" reviews are just a way to get a cut of Amazon sales.
- Video content: Heavy investment in TikTok and YouTube to grab younger viewers who would never dream of buying a physical paper.
It’s a different kind of influence. It’s less about "winning elections" now and more about "winning the feed."
The Celebrity Industrial Complex
The relationship between The Sun and celebrities is... complicated. It’s parasitic. The paper needs the stars for "splashes," and the stars—especially reality TV ones—need the paper for relevance.
Take Love Island. The Sun covers it like it’s a war zone. They track every Instagram unfollow and every nightclub appearance. For the influencers, a headline in The Sun is currency. Even a "bad" story keeps them in the public eye.
But for A-list celebrities, it's often a legal battleground. They've faced countless libel suits. Some they win, some they lose. The Johnny Depp "wife-beater" libel case was a massive moment for the paper. When the UK court ruled in favor of The Sun, it was a huge victory for their legal team and a crushing blow for Depp’s UK reputation at the time.
What Most People Get Wrong About Tabloid Readers
There’s this lazy assumption that people who read The Sun are "uninformed." That’s a bit elitist, honestly. Most readers know exactly what they’re getting. They read it for entertainment. It’s a break from the drudgery of work.
The paper offers a sense of community. Through "The Sun Says" (their editorial column), they speak directly to the reader like a mate at the pub. They use "we" a lot. "We think it’s time to stop this nonsense." It’s inclusive in a very specific, patriotic way.
Whether you agree with their politics or not, you have to respect the craft. Writing a 150-word story that conveys a complex political issue while making three puns and a pop-culture reference is actually really hard to do.
The Future: Can Print Last?
Print circulation is dropping everywhere. The Sun is no exception. In the 90s, they were selling 4 million copies a day. Now? It’s a fraction of that.
But the brand is weirdly resilient. They’ve moved into gambling with "Sun Bingo" and "Sun Vegas." They’ve moved into travel. They are becoming a lifestyle brand that happens to publish news.
Is it still "British newspapers The Sun" if it’s just a collection of apps and a Facebook page? Probably. The "Sun" identity is about an attitude—irreverent, loud, slightly naughty, and fiercely British.
Actionable Insights: Navigating the Tabloid Era
If you’re trying to understand the UK media landscape or even if you’re a creator looking to emulate their reach, here’s what you can actually learn from them.
Understand the Hook
Every Sun story starts with a "Hey, look at this!" moment. If your content doesn't grab someone in the first two seconds, you've lost. They don't do "slow burns."
Check Multiple Sources
Because The Sun often relies on "insiders" and "sources close to the couple," the news can be speculative. If you see a massive story in The Sun, wait 20 minutes to see if the BBC or Press Association confirms the hard facts. They are great for "flavor," but sometimes the "truth" is a bit stretchy.
Study Their Headlines
If you write for the web, study their puns. They use wordplay to make boring topics "sticky." It’s why people click.
Recognize the Bias
The Sun is openly partisan. They don't pretend to be neutral. When you read their political coverage, always ask: Who does this headline benefit? Usually, it's the status quo or the paper's own commercial interests.
The Sun isn't going anywhere. It might stop being a piece of paper you hold in your hands, but that red-box energy is baked into the DNA of how the UK consumes information. Love them or loathe them, they are the loudest voice we've got.
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If you want to see the "real" Britain—the one away from the polite dinner parties and academic seminars—you still have to look at what's on the front page of The Sun. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s exactly what millions of people want to talk about.