''Sun'' was a

supermarket tabloid Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...

owned by

American Media, Inc. A360 Media, LLC (branded a360media), formerly American Media, Inc. (AMI), is an American publisher of magazines, supermarket tabloids, and books based in New York City. Originally affiliated with only the ''National Enquirer'', the media company ...

It ceased publication after the issue bearing a July 2, 2012, cover date. Its contents often came under question and widely regarded as "

sensationalistic In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotion ...

writing." Since a 1992 invasion of privacy case, 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 A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

'' Magazine, in 1983 as a competitor to ''

Weekly World News The ''Weekly World News'' was a tabloid which published mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news t ...

'', and its early contents reflected the same kind of imaginative journalism. When both papers were consolidated under American Media Inc. ownership in 1999, ''Sun's'' content came to specialize in recurring stories on

Bible prophecy Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy comprises the passages of the Bible that are claimed to reflect communications from God to humans through prophets. Jews and Christians usually consider the biblical prophets to have received revelations from G ...

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection o ...

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, the

apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

epidemics An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

, and

future war ''Future War'' is a 1997 American direct-to-video science fiction film about an escaped human slave fleeing his cyborg masters and seeking refuge on Earth. It was lampooned in a 1999 episode of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. Plot A spaceship ...

. ''Sun'' also featured health articles dealing with miracle cures of diseases such as

chronic pain Chronic pain is classified as pain that lasts longer than three to six months. In medicine, the distinction between Acute (medicine), acute and Chronic condition, chronic pain is sometimes determined by the amount of time since onset. Two commonly ...

and

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

, 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. 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. ''Sun'' photo editor Robert Stevens became the first victim of the

2001 anthrax attacks The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of "America" and "anthrax", from its FBI case name), occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 ...

. He died as a result of a letter sent to the offices of American Media, the parent company of ''Sun'', ''

The National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips, a common practice in tabl ...

'', and other supermarket tabloids.

Notes

Supermarket tabloids Publications established in 1983 Publications disestablished in 2012 Defunct newspapers published in Florida 1983 establishments in the United States 2012 disestablishments in the United States {{Florida-newspaper-stub