News on Sunday

Last updated
News on Sunday
TypeWeekly newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner(s)Employees; Owen Oyston
EditorKeith Sutton
Founded1987
Political alignment left-wing
Ceased publication1987
HeadquartersWhitworth Street, Manchester
Circulation 200,000 (at end)
Websitenone

The News on Sunday was a left-wing British tabloid newspaper. It was launched in April 1987. Publication ceased seven months later, in November 1987.

Contents

Origins

The founders of the paper were former members of the left-wing group Big Flame and other radicals. They decided that a left-wing mass-circulation tabloid Sunday newspaper was possible and endeavoured to start one. The idea of the paper was originally thought up by Benjamin Lowe. The leaders were Ben Lowe, Alan Hayling,who became Chief Exec and Chris Bott who wrote the business and fundraising plan. They brought John Pilger on board as acting editor but Pilger left before the newspaper was launched. The decision to base its headquarters in Manchester was criticised as it was away from the centre of national political activity. [1]

The paper gave a controlling interest to a collective of workers and its share issue raised £6.5 million from trade unions and Labour local authority pension funds. The funding team was led by Chris Bott, alonng with Nick Horsley the chair of Northern Foods and a representative from Guinness Mahan , the merchant bank. The money was raised largely from Trade Unions and local authorities plus £1000 pound investments from wealthy radicals. Left wing celebrities were persuaded to be supporters, including cartoonists such as Ralph Steadman, musicians who performed at the fundraising concert such as Sade and Terance Trent Darb plus comedians, actors, theatre directors and people in the media. Keeith Sutton was appointed editor.

Launch and bankruptcy

The advertisement campaign for the paper was carried out by BBH (Bartle, Bogle & Hegarty), who came up with the slogan "No tits but a lot of balls", in an attempt to distance the paper from those with images of topless women, and emphasise an overt political agenda not usually associated with tabloids. [2] The slogan offended the feminists working on the paper and was subsequently dropped, though an element of the idea survived for the TV advert. The slogan used was "The paper that bites back". [3]

The newspaper's attitude to news values, and the inexperience of its staff, was illustrated on the front page of its first edition on 26 April. The lead story was about a boy in Brazil who had to sell one of his kidneys to pay for medical care. Although most agreed [1] that this was a worthwhile issue, the story was considered inappropriate as the lead story for a British Sunday paper.

The paper was not as successful as had been hoped. In order to break even, the paper had to sell 800,000 copies. [4] The first issue sold 500,000 and by its eighth issue circulation had gone down to 200,000. The failure of the paper is attributed to inexperienced staff, [1] "bad management, poor marketing, a commitment to political correctness and ideological purity at the expense of news values". [2]

However the paper was kept afloat during the general election campaign thanks to the extension of an additional subordinated loan from the TGWU, so that its folding would not embarrass the Labour Party. It went bankrupt immediately after the election had been held and was purchased by Owen Oyston but finally closed down five months later, in November 1987. [5]

Two ex-employees, Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie, wrote a "withering" account of its demise called Disaster!. [6]

Editorial line

The newspaper was socialist in tone and internationalist in outlook. It supported the principle of self determination for all nations and regarded British society as 'based on the unequal ownership of wealth, prosperity and power'. It also believed that the root cause of the Troubles in Northern Ireland was the 'British presence in that country'. It supported trade unions when they went on strike and was against the 'imposition of suffering on animals'.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of British newspapers</span> Dates to the 17th century

The history of British newspapers begins in the 17th century with the emergence of regular publications covering news and gossip. The relaxation of government censorship in the late 17th century led to a rise in publications, which in turn led to an increase in regulation throughout the 18th century. The Times began publication in 1785 and became the leading newspaper of the early 19th century, before the lifting of taxes on newspapers and technological innovations led to a boom in newspaper publishing in the late 19th century. Mass education and increasing affluence led to new papers such as the Daily Mail emerging at the end of the 19th century, aimed at lower middle-class readers.

<i>The Independent</i> British online daily newspaper

The Independent is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition.

<i>Daily Mirror</i> British daily tabloid newspaper

The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply The Mirror. It had an average daily print circulation of 716,923 in December 2016, dropping to 587,803 the following year. Its Sunday sister paper is the Sunday Mirror. Unlike other major British tabloids such as The Sun and the Daily Mail, the Mirror has no separate Scottish edition; this function is performed by the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail, which incorporate certain stories from the Mirror that are of Scottish significance.

<i>Morning Star</i> (British newspaper) British daily tabloid format newspaper

The Morning Star is a left-wing British daily newspaper with a focus on social, political and trade union issues. Originally founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), ownership was transferred from the CPGB to an independent readers' co-operative, the People's Press Printing Society, in 1945 and later renamed the Morning Star in 1966. The paper describes its editorial stance as in line with Britain's Road to Socialism, the programme of the Communist Party of Britain.

The Sunday Tribune was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tabloid. Previous editors were Conor Brady, Vincent Browne, Peter Murtagh, Matt Cooper and Paddy Murray. The Sunday Tribune was founded in 1980, closed in 1982, relaunched in 1983 and entered receivership in February 2011 after which it ceased to trade.

<i>Tribune</i> (magazine) British socialist magazine

Tribune is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left. Previous editors at the magazine have included Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health who spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, former Labour leader Michael Foot, and writer George Orwell, who served as Literary Editor.

<i>LHumanité</i> French newspaper

L'Humanité is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the SFIO, de facto, and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, L'Humanité would not exist."

<i>Daily Herald</i> (United Kingdom) British daily newspaper, published in London from 1912 to 1964, and precursor of The Sun

The Daily Herald was a British daily newspaper, published daily in London from 1912 to 1964. It was published in the interest of the labour movement and supported the Labour Party. It underwent several changes of management before ceasing publication in 1964, when it was relaunched as The Sun, in its pre-Murdoch form.

<i>Peoples Voice</i> (newspaper) Canadian newspaper published fortnightly

People's Voice is a Canadian newspaper published fortnightly by New Labour Press Ltd. The paper's editorial line reflects the viewpoints of the Communist Party of Canada, although it also runs articles by other leftist voices. Established in 1993 under this name, the paper and online service have a history of ancestral publications dating to the early 1920s, when the first paper of this line was founded by the new Communist Party of Canada.

Wendy Henry is a former British journalist and newspaper editor.

<i>New York Call</i>

The New York Call was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The Call was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, following the Chicago Daily Socialist (1906–1912) and preceding the Milwaukee Leader (1911–1938).

<i>The Sun</i> (United Kingdom) British tabloid newspaper

The Sun is a British tabloid newspaper, published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lachlan Murdoch's News Corp. It was founded as a broadsheet in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald, and became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owner. The Sun had the largest daily newspaper circulation in the United Kingdom, but was overtaken by freesheet rival Metro in March 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-English press of the Socialist Party of America</span>

For a number of decades after its establishment in August 1901, the Socialist Party of America produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in an array different languages. This list of the Non-English press of the Socialist Party of America provides basic information on each title, along with links to pages dealing with specific publications in greater depth.

<i>The Revolutionary Age</i> Left-wing newspaper published between 1918 and 1919

The Revolutionary Age was an American radical newspaper edited by Louis C. Fraina and published from November 1918 until August 1919. Originally the publication of Local Boston, Socialist Party, the paper evolved into the de facto national organ of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party which battled for control of the Socialist Party throughout the spring and summer of 1919. With the establishment of the Left Wing National Council in June 1919, the paper was moved from Boston to New York City gained status as the official voice of the nascent American communist movement. The publication was terminated in August 1919, replaced by the official organ of the new Communist Party of America, a weekly newspaper known as The Communist.

<i>Socialist Worker</i> Name of several newspapers

Socialist Worker is the name of several newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since 1968, and a monthly published by the International Socialists in Canada. It was a monthly published by the International Socialist Organization (ISO) in the United States from 1977 to 2019, and a biweekly published by the Socialist Workers Party in Ireland, a quarterly published by the International Socialist Organisation in Zimbabwe and a monthly published by the former International Socialist Organisation in Australia.

Peter Chippindale was a British newspaper journalist and author. He was born to Keith and Ruth Chippindale in Northern India, where his father was a captain in the 11th Sikh regiment. As a child he attended Sedbergh School

<i>Social-Demokraten</i> (Chicago newspaper)

Social-Demokraten was a Norwegian and Danish weekly socialist newspaper published in the United States from 1911 to 1921. The paper was a privately owned entity closely associated with the Scandinavian Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America.

7 Days was a radical socialist weekly photo newspaper published in the United Kingdom. It was in circulation from 22 October 1971 until 22 March 1972, with a final special edition in May 1972. The paper covered left-wing political events of the period including the 'Mangrove Nine Trial', 'Bloody Sunday' in Northern Ireland, industrial disputes, and the Angry Brigade campaigns. The paper also aligned itself with feminist, anti-racism, and anti-homophobia movements of the early 1970s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Lots of Balls". Lefties. 2006-06-24. BBC Two.
  2. 1 2 Williams, Kevin (1998). Get Me a Murder a Day!: The History of Mass Communication in Britain. Arnold. p. 225. ISBN   0-340-61466-8.
  3. ↑ Socialist Standard, Volumes 82-83, 1986
  4. ↑ BBC Two documentary summary
  5. ↑ Concise History of the British Newspaper in the 20th Century: The British Library Newspaper Library
  6. ↑ Leigh, David (2014). "Peter Chippindale obituary | Media | theguardian.com". theguardian.com. Retrieved 18 August 2014. ex-employee
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.