The Sun’s Page 3 website has enjoyed a flood of traffic since the newspaper stopped publishing its daily pictures of bare-breasted women.
But the newspaper, according to a person familiar with the situation, has received few, if any, complaints about the absence of an iconic feature that has run for 44 years.
Although some readers have inquired of the paper whether the BBC’s reports of page 3’s newsprint demise were correct, there have not been any internal reports of people making specific complaints.
It would suggest that the removal of the topless photographs has been less controversial than the Sun’s editor, David Dinsmore, and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, might have feared. It remains unclear which of them made the decision to bring down the axe.
No statistics are yet available for the surge of interest in the Sun’s dedicated page 3 site, but the source said Tuesday’s total was “considerably greater than the previous 24 hours”. Normally behind a paywall, it appears to be free to access at present.
It is understood that the Sun is still refusing to confirm that Page 3 has been ditched for all time. The paper’s PR team maintain that they will not discuss speculation “fuelled by people outside the newspaper”.
Meanwhile, the Daily Star, the rival red-top which has carried page 3-style pictures since it was launched in 1978, has today published a poster-style page featuring topless photographs of five of the Sun’s most famous former page 3 “girls”.
The Star’s publisher, Richard Desmond, will be hoping to reverse his paper’s newsprint sales decline by attracting Sun readers upset by the loss of nipples.
Doubtless, the circulation department at the Sun’s publishers, News UK, will be closely monitoring whether there is a significant Sun-Star sales switch in the coming week or so.
If a large enough movement of readers occurred, it is possible that the Sun could reintroduce Page 3. Insiders suggest, however, that this is very unlikely indeed.
For the record, today’s page 3 of the Sun is a full-page advert for Sainsbury’s supermarket. Mammon scores over mammaries.
