THE DAILY STAR

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The Daily Star is a daily British tabloid newspaper. Its editor is Dawn Neesom. She was promoted to the post in December 2003 after the previous editor, Peter Hill, moved to become editor of the Daily Express. Previously she had been an executive on the paper in charge of the features department.

The Daily Star was first published on November 2, 1978, and was the first new national paper to be launched since the Daily Mirror in 1903. For many years it published Monday to Saturday but on September 15 2002 it expanded to bring out a Sunday edition, the Daily Star Sunday, which is edited by Gareth Morgan.

Daily Star Sunday executive Michael Booker is the youngest deputy editor on Fleet Street.

The Daily Star is published by Express Newspapers, which also publishes the Daily Express and Sunday Express. The group is owned by Richard Desmond's Northern and Shell company. The paper is best known for focussing on stories which largely revolve around celebrities, sport, and news and gossip about popular television programmes, such as soap operas and reality TV shows. The editorial stance of the Star's hard news articles is predominantly right wing, tackling such issues as asylum seekers and anti-social behaviour.

The newspaper features a photograph of a topless model on weekdays (in a similar vein to The Sun's Page 3 feature) and has "discovered" some well known models, most notably Rachel Ter Horst in 1993, and Lucy Pinder on a Bournemouth beach in Summer 2003. Such models as Cherry Dee and Michelle Marsh have also appeared on their page 3. These women are known in the paper as "Starbabes". The paper's glamour photographer is Jeany Savage. Recently a lot of front pages have been devoted to model Danielle Lloyd, of Celebrity Big Brother fame.

The Star includes columns by Dominik Diamond and Vanessa Feltz (which is also printed in the Daily Express), and a Forum page devoted to readers' text messages, which are apparently printed verbatim.

Both the Daily Star and its Sunday equivalent, as well as its stablemates the Daily Express and Sunday Express, have featured heavy coverage of the missing toddler Madeleine McCann. In 2008 the McCann family sued the Star and Express for libel following the newspapers' coverage of the case. The action concerned more than 100 stories across the Daily Express, Daily Star and their Sunday equivalents, which accused the McCanns of involvement in their daughter's disappearance. 

The newspapers' coverage was regarded by the McCanns as grossly defamatory. In a settlement at the High Court of Justice, the newspapers agreed to run an unprecedented front-page apology to the McCanns on 19 March 2008, publish another apology on the front pages of the Sunday editions of 23 March and make a statement of apology at the High Court. They also agreed to pay costs and substantial damages, which the McCanns plan to use to aid their search for their daughter. In its apology, the Daily Star apologised for printing "stories suggesting the couple were responsible for, or may be responsible for, the death of their daughter Madeleine and for covering it up" and stated that "We now recognise that such a suggestion is absolutely untrue and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance."

Victims of press attention - Kate and Gerry McCann

APOLOGY: KATE & GERRY MCCANN: SORRY - 20 March 2008

The Daily Star has made a wholehearted apology to Kate and Gerry McCann for stories suggesting the couple were responsible for, or may be responsible for, the death of their daughter Madeleine and for covering it up

We now recognise that such a suggestion is absolutely untrue and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

As an expression of our regret we have now made a substantial donation to the Madeleine Fund in the hope that it helps efforts to find her.

We sincerely apologise for any additional distress we have caused the family.

Daniel Craig and Wayne Rooney in the Daily Star

LINKS and REFERENCE

• Audit Bureau Circulations, Nov 2006. Media Guardian.

• "Damages due over McCann stories", BBC News Online

• "Kate & Gerry McCann: Sorry", Daily Star

• Megastar - the former online service of The Daily Star

• Online e:edition

• The Daily Star - Daily Newspaper Cover

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