Sun (supermarket tabloid)

Last updated
Sun
Sun-cover-7-June-2004.jpg
Sun cover (June 7, 2004)
Categories American Media Inc.
FounderMike Rosenbloom
First issue1983 (1983)
Final issue2012 (2012)
Company American Media, Inc.
CountryUSA
Based in Boca Raton, Florida
LanguageEnglish

Sun was a supermarket tabloid owned by American Media, Inc. It ceased publication after the issue bearing a July 2, 2012, cover date.

Its contents often came under question and widely regarded as "sensationalistic writing." Since a 1992 invasion of privacy case, [1] a small-print disclaimer printed beneath the masthead warned readers to "suspend belief for the sake of enjoyment."

The paper was founded by Mike Rosenbloom, then-publisher of Globe Magazine, in 1983 as a competitor to Weekly World News , and its early contents reflected the same kind of imaginative journalism. [2] When both papers were consolidated under American Media Inc. ownership in 1999, Sun's content came to specialize in recurring stories on Bible prophecy, Nostradamus, global warming, the apocalypse, epidemics, and future war. Sun also featured health articles dealing with miracle cures of diseases such as chronic pain and arthritis, as well as numerous "strange but true" articles from across the country—in fact, the strange but true stories made up the bulk of the paper's content, although they were almost never featured on the front page. [2] : 40-48

Following the 2007 discontinuation of Weekly World News as a separate publication, Sun began printing a small "pull-out" insert of Weekly World News stories and columns. [3]

Sun photo editor Robert Stevens became the first victim of the 2001 anthrax attacks. He died as a result of a letter sent to the offices of American Media, the parent company of Sun, The National Enquirer , and other supermarket tabloids. [4]

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References

  1. Peoples Bank and Trust Company of Mountain Home, Conservator of the Estate of Nellie Mitchell, an Aged Person, Appellee, v. Globe International Publishing, Inc. University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School. Archived from the original on 27 June 2001.
  2. 1 2 Bird, S. Elizabeth (1992). For Enquiring Minds: A Cultural Study of Supermarket Tabloids. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN   0870497294. OCLC   23693283.
  3. "Weekly World News pages". Sun. American Media, Inc. October 7, 2007. pp. 19–24.
  4. Canedy, Dana; with Nicholas Wade (October 6, 2001). "Florida Man Dies of Rare Form of Anthrax". The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2018.