The company that owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times has changed its name. And it has an odd new logo too
Name: News UK.
Age: Freshly minted.
Appearance: Ugly, ill-thought-through logo.
What is it? It's a Wapping-based company.
Some plucky social media startup? It's more of a rebranding, actually.
Of what? Of the operation formerly known as News International, the company that owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.
So the Evil Empire has a new name. Yes. Effective immediately.
Why the change? According to a News UK press release, the new brand is "designed to convey a more coherent and logical identity", and reflects "fundamental changes in governance and personnel that have taken place to address the problems of the recent past".
Which problems is it referring to? The phone-hacking scandal, the subsequent closure of the News of the World, the unsavoury revelations of the Leveson report and the arrest of former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, among other things.
If the company thinks it can just change its name and we will all forget the way it treated Sienna Miller, it is wrong. Other, more substantive changes have taken place – the newspapers have new editors, and the executive team has been "transformed".
Actually, I have already forgotten how it treated Sienna Miller. It was bad, though. The change is also part of a larger reorganisation of Rupert Murdoch's empire, which has been split into two entities, publishing business News Corporation and entertainment arm 21st Century Fox.
Sounds like a strategy designed to keep one rotten apple from the spoiling the barrel, followed by an attempt to rebrand the rotten apple as "extra ripe". A crude assessment, but one that I find I am in no mood to contradict.
What's with that terrible logo? Apparently the script is based on the handwriting of both Rupert Murdoch and his father Keith.
They had the same handwriting? Sounds odd. Perhaps young Rupert was just an adept forger. No comment.
Do say: "Despite the changes at the corporate level, this is largely an attempt to decontaminate a toxic brand."
Don't say: "Hi, is that News UK? Can I speak to Rebekah? No? Is James there?"