Murdoch: Sun on Sunday sells 3m (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Murdoch: Sun on Sunday sells 3m

8:54pm Sunday 26th February 2012 in National © Press Association 2013

The Sun on Sunday sold three million copies after it hit news stands across the country for the first time, Rupert Murdoch has said.

The media tycoon took to Twitter to announce that sales of his new Sunday title exceeded expectations. He said: "Reports early, but new Sun edition sold 3m!"

On Friday he said that he would be "very happy" if the paper sold more than two million copies.

The newspaper came out with a pledge of "trust" and "decency" following the damaging phone hacking scandal. It promised readers it would remain "fearless, outspoken, mischievous and fun". The newspaper claimed it would hold all journalists to account and said it had appointed a readers' champion to deal with errors and feedback from the public.

In an editorial, the newspaper also commented on the arrests of 10 current and former employees over alleged corrupt payments to public officials, saying they were "innocent until proven guilty".

It said that the closure of its sister paper the News of the World, which ceased publication last July at the height of the hacking scandal, was a "sobering experience".

The editorial, titled: A new Sun rises today, said: "As we launch the seven day Sun, we want to strengthen that connection (with the readers) with a new independent Sun Readers' Champion to accept feedback and correct significant errors.

"Our journalists must abide by the Press Complaints Commission's editors code, the industry standard for ethical behaviour, and the News Corporation standards of business conduct.

"We will hold our journalists to the standards we expect of them. After all a newspaper which holds the powerful to account must do the same with itself. You will be able to trust our journalists to abide by the values of decency as they gather news."

Mr Murdoch, 80, travelled to the paper's printers in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, on Saturday night to witness the new Sunday tabloid roll off the press for the first time.