Victoria Newton

Infobox Person
name = Victoria Newton


caption =
birth_date = birth date|1972|3|9|mf=y
birth_place = London
death_date =
death_place =

Victoria Newton (born 9 March 1972 in London) is an award-winning English journalist and showbiz correspondent. She is best known for being the former editor of the "Bizarre" showbiz column of Rupert Murdoch's "The Sun" newspaper.

Career

Newton reached Fleet Street in 1993 through joining the "Daily Express", and then started the showbiz beat at "The People". In 1998, she became an assistant to Dominic Mohan on "The Sun's" "Bizarre" pages, before becoming the paper's Los Angeles correspondent in 1999. Newton returned to the UK in 2002 to become the "Daily Mail's" showbiz editor, and returned to "The Sun" in 2003 to become editor of "Bizarre" replacing the departing Mohan. [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article312082.ece Victoria Newton: My Life In Media - Media, News - Independent.co.uk ] ] In November 2007 it was announced that Newton would be leaving the Bizarre pages and had been promoted to Head of Features and Entertainment. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/16/sun.pressandpublishing Senior executive reshuffle at the Sun | Media | guardian.co.uk ] ] .

Under her direction, "Bizarre" was known for presenting awards like 'Shagger of the Year' or 'Caner of the Year' and various other awards in the paper's end of year awards. However, it was revealed that the 2006 winners of the "Bizarre" readers' poll awards - who included Justin Timberlake and Madonna - were presented with their awards before readers had the opportunity to vote. [Roy Greenslade [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/2007/01/bizarre_columnists_mistakes_ex.html blog column] , Guardian Unlimited website, 7 January 2007. Retrieved on 2 September 2007.] From 2006, Newton started producing a weekly podcast featuring many celebrity friends and musicians. Newton's column often contradicts her News International colleague Rav Singh's showbiz column in the "News of the World," believed by many to reflect an internal and personal dispute. [ [http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=36840 Press Gazette - Axegrinder 16.02.2007 ] ]

"Bizarre's" biggest rivals were the "Daily Mirror's" "The 3AM Girls" Eva Simpson and Caroline Hedley, which is billed as the column packed with “proper showbiz exclusives.” "Bizarre" is billed as “award-winning,” [ [http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/axegrinder/category/victoria-newton/ Victoria Newton | Axegrinder | Press Gazette ] ] but Newton frequently made appearances in "Private Eye's" "Street Of Shame", and she was also the subject of a blog called "VickyWatch", which aimed to correct the "many mistakes in her column. From basic facts to downright lies." The blog ended on the same day her promotion away from Bizarre was announced.

Among other claims Newton apparently reduces her year of birth by ten years, to hide actual age from "aimed at young and trendy" column readers and uses the terms "I can exclusively reveal..." when a more accurate description would be "I have received a press release" or "I have read this on the internet." [ [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/2007/01/bizarre_columnists_mistakes_ex.html Blogger exposes Sun columnist's Bizarre 'mistakes' | Greenslade | Guardian Unlimited ] ] She has occasionally missed items when proofreading. [http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/09/even-subs-dont-read-bizarre.html]

Newton apparently supports Liverpool FC, despite the sustained boycott of "The Sun" in Merseyside over inaccurate claims the paper made about the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. [ [http://vickywatch.blogspot.com/2007/05/vickys-bizarre-outfit.html VickyWatch: Vicky's Bizarre Outfit ] ] She also refers to herself as a scouser, despite being born in London. [http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/06/joss-stone-likes-whip.html]

She also has been accused of glamourising domestic violence, [http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/06/theres-nothing-quite-as-funny-as.html] and fabricating and altering her stories. [http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/06/victoria-newton-went-to-cupboard.html] [ [http://xrrf.blogspot.com/search/label/victoria%20newton No Rock And Roll Fun: victoria newton ] ]

She was embroiled in controversy over allegations of racism. An article on Hilary Duff having a Bollywood theme on her latest video was captioned "Hilary being "Shilpa Poppadom".

In a report in around February or March 2006, Newton wrote a report in which she bizarrely claimed that Prince had re-directed traffic so he could enter a hotel. She then inaccurately claimed that he had his last UK chart hit (not including the 1999 remix) in 1995 which was 'Purple Medley' a mix of his hits, when in actual fact he had hits such as 'Eye Hate U', 'Gold' (his last UK top 10 single), 'Betcha By Golly Wow' and 'The Holy River'. Her claims had seemed based on either a dislike of Prince or a play on his widely universally considered eccentricity. Ironically, Prince would gain a US #1 album and UK top 10 album that year with '3121'.

Another example of her odd approach to journalism was to publish a 'World Exclusive' review of the new Britney Spears album, which was based on an article from the Entertainment Weekly website three weeks earlier, and leaked songs uploaded to YouTube. [ [http://vickywatch.blogspot.com/2007/09/first-listen-of-britney-album-29th.html VickyWatch: First listen of Britney album - 29th September ] ] In November 2007 Victoria left her Bizzarre column behind, replaced by assistant Gordon Smart. Victoria still works at The Sun newspaper where she is now an Executive. [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article501768.ece]

Awards

*British Press Awards 2006 Show-business Writer of the Year

References

ee also

* News Corporation
* News Limited
* Rupert Murdoch

External links

* [http://www.thesun.co.uk/section/0,,4,00.html "Bizarre" column]
* [http://podcastnation.co.uk/search/detail.php?id=167 "Bizarre" podcast]
* [http://vickywatch.blogspot.com VickyWatch]