Sunday Tribune

Last updated

Sunday Tribune
Tribunemasthead.JPG
Sunday Tribune Masthead, 2000s
TypeSunday newspaper
Formatoriginally tabloid, later broadsheet
Owner(s)Tribune Newspapers PLC
EditorNóirín Hegarty
Founded1980
Political alignmentCentre/Liberal
Ceased publication1982
2011
Relaunched1983
Headquarters27-32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1
Circulation 65,717(as of Jan–June 2008)
Readership177,000 (5% of market)
WebsiteFormer: www.tribune.ie

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.

Contents

Foundation, collapse and first relaunch

The newspaper was founded in 1980 by John Mulcahy as a tabloid with Conor Brady (later editor of The Irish Times ) as its first editor. The format changed to broadsheet with the addition of a colour supplement magazine after the first year. It was moderately successful but its growing financial stability (it had not yet made a profit but was moving in that direction) was undermined when its then owner, Hugh McLaughlin, launched the financially misjudged downmarket tabloid Daily News in 1982. [1] The News proved to be a publishing disaster, with poor quality printing, bad distribution, and misjudged content, and pulled its sister paper, the Tribune, down with it within weeks. The Tribune went into receivership. The title was bought by Vincent Browne, who relaunched it in 1983 and became its editor. One of the shareholders was Tony Ryan. [2]

Second near collapse

The paper became one of Ireland's most successful newspapers in the 1980s, eating into the market of The Sunday Press , which like other Press titles was hæmorrhaging readers through underfunding, an aging market and poor management decisions. Replicating McLoughlin's mistake of a decade earlier, against advice Browne launched a new sister paper, the Dublin Tribune , which collapsed pulling the Sunday Tribune down with it.

It had a circulation of 65,717 and readership of 177,000 (5% of market) from Jan–June 2008. [3] [4]

The Dublin Tribune, though a commercial failure, was a breeding ground for a number of talented young journalists under the direction of editors Michael Hand and Rory Godson. These included Patricia Deevy, Diarmuid Doyle, Ursula Halligan, Nicola Byrne, Ronan Price, Richard Balls, Paul Howard, Colm Murphy, Brendan Fanning, Conn O Midheach, Rory Kerr, Ryle Nugent and Ed O'Loughlin who was on the shortlist for the Booker Prize for his novel Not Untrue And Not Unkind.

The Sunday Tribune was saved from bankruptcy by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News and Media (then called Independent Newspapers plc), which acquired a 29.9 per cent stake in the company. Even before the investment the relationship between Browne and the board of the company had been contentious. In the aftermath of the Dublin Tribune debacle Browne was sacked as editor. [5]

Browne was succeeded as editor by Peter Murtagh, [6] a Dublin-born journalist formerly with The Irish Times who moved to London in 1985 and was news editor at The Guardian . Appointed Sunday Tribune editor in 1994, Murtagh had limited success, seeing early circulation growth dissipate and the paper starved of resources. He resigned after just over two years, telling journalists he could not secure sufficient investment from the Board. Later, he rejoined The Irish Times where he is now a managing editor. [7]

After taking its 29.9 per cent stake, Independent Newspapers made an offer to increase its share to a majority level, however the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Desmond O'Malley, blocked the takeover attempt in 1992. Despite this, it is believed by many Irish business journalists that Independent Newspapers effectively control the Sunday Tribune via a series of loans. [8]

Matt Cooper, [9] a business journalist with O'Reilly's Irish Independent newspaper, succeeded Murtagh as editor from 1996 to 2003. When Cooper departed the Sunday Tribune in early 2003 and moved into broadcast journalism with Today FM radio station, he was succeeded by Paddy Murray, [10] who was before and afterwards a columnist with the Sunday World newspaper.

Murray's tenure was marked by a rise in circulation to well above 80,000, aided four or five times a year by classical music CD promotions. Readership under Murray reached 281,000 - its highest to date - according to the Joint National Readership Survey of 2005. [11] That represented an 8.4 per cent share. During his time as editor, Murray launched a campaign in the paper to save the Gabhra Valley from destruction by the M3 motorway. The campaign was later dropped by the Sunday Tribune, but Murray kept it up in the Sunday World.

The paper was alone among Irish newspapers at the time, to come out strongly against the invasion of Iraq, Murray's editorial predicting, accurately, that the invasion was akin to opening Pandora's Box. Even around this time of relatively improved readership, the future of the newspaper was believed to be uncertain. It continued to survive in the increasingly competitive Irish newspaper for several more years, in part helped by the collapse of the Irish Press group, which removed its highly popular Sunday Press from the market. Though many of its readers would not necessarily have been politically close to the Sunday Tribune, they were closer to it than the main alternative, the Sunday Independent.

Second closure

After Murray's tenure as editor ended in January 2005 he was succeeded as Sunday Tribune editor by Noirin Hegarty, [12] a former deputy editor at the INM-owned Dublin morning tabloid Evening Herald . Many journalists believe that in the following years, the Sunday Tribune moved closer to tabloid-style content in a bid to combat INM's rival, Associated Newspapers' tabloid Irish Mail On Sunday newspaper, which launched in 2006. On 19 September 2010 it reverted to tabloid from broadsheet.

In 1983, 1988, 1994 and 2005 the Sunday Tribune published its Christmas edition on Friday 23 & Saturday 24 December due to Sunday being Christmas Day.

Over time, circulation and readership of the newspaper declined.

On 1 February 2011 it was announced that the Sunday Tribune had gone into receivership, with fresh investment being sought by McStay Luby. [13] The following day it was announced that there would be no further edition of the newspaper for four weeks. [14] The last issue appeared on 30 January 2011. On 6 February 2011, the Irish Mail on Sunday committed a "shameless" crime when it allowed copies of its newspaper go on sale with an imitation Sunday Tribune cover. [15] This plagiarism was "denounced" when it became public. [16] [17] [18] [19] The Irish Mail on Sunday was subsequently sued. [20]

The paper was often humorously referred to as "The Turbine", especially in the satirical magazine The Phoenix .

On 22 February 2011, following a review by the Receiver, in consultation with the management of the company, of the financial and risk areas of the Sunday Tribune it was decided that publication of the newspaper together with its online edition would be deferred during the sale process.[ clarification needed ]

Digital archive

The Sunday Tribune's archive from 1986 to 2005 was added to the British Newspaper Archive between November 2018 and February 2019. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabloid (newspaper format)</span> Type of newspaper

A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format.

<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>Irish Independent</i> Irish daily newspaper

The Irish Independent is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis.

<i>Metro</i> (British newspaper) British tabloid newspaper

Metro is the United Kingdom's highest-circulation freesheet tabloid newspaper. It is published in tabloid format by DMG Media. The newspaper is distributed from Monday to Friday mornings on public places in areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Copies are also handed out to pedestrians.

The News was an afternoon daily tabloid newspaper in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, that had its origins in 1869, and ceased circulation in 1992. Through much of the 20th century, The Advertiser was Adelaide's morning broadsheet, The News the afternoon tabloid, with The Sunday Mail covering weekend sport, and Messenger Newspapers community news.

<i>The Courier-Mail</i> Daily tabloid newspaper in Australia

The Courier-Mail is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Yandina on the Sunshine Coast. It is available for purchase both online and in paper form throughout Queensland and most regions of Northern New South Wales.

<i>Belfast Telegraph</i> Northern Irish newspaper

The Belfast Telegraph is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant population", while also being read within Catholic nationalist communities in Northern Ireland.

The Sunday Independent is an Irish Sunday newspaper broadsheet published by Independent News & Media plc, a subsidiary of Mediahuis.

<i>The Sun-Herald</i> Australian Sunday newspaper

The Sun-Herald is an Australian newspaper published in tabloid or compact format on Sundays in Sydney by Nine Entertainment. It is the Sunday counterpart of the Sydney Morning Herald. In the six months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, its circulation had dropped to 443,257 as of December 2009 and to 313,477 as of December 2010, from which its management inferred a readership of 868,000. Readership continued to tumble to 264,434 by the end of 2013, and has half the circulation of rival The Sunday Telegraph.

<i>Irish Daily Star</i> Newspaper

The Irish Daily Star is a tabloid newspaper published in Ireland by Reach plc, which owns the British Daily Star.

The Herald is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the Evening Herald until its name was changed in 2013.

<i>The Irish Press</i> Irish newspaper (1931–1995)

The Irish Press was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995.

Ireland on Sunday was a national Sunday newspaper published in Ireland from September 1997 until September 2006, when it was renamed the Irish Mail on Sunday. The newspaper was founded in 1996 as a sports-only newspaper called The Title, but was soon expanded into a general broadsheet Sunday newspaper with its founder, former County Meath Gaelic football player Liam Hayes, carrying on as editor. The paper was considered a 'middle-market' publication.

The Sunday World is an Irish newspaper published by Independent News & Media. It is the second largest selling "popular" newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, and is also sold in Northern Ireland where a modified edition with more stories relevant to that region is produced. It was first published on 25 March 1973. Until 25 December 1988 all editions were printed in Dublin but since 1 January 1989 a Northern Ireland edition has been published and an English edition has been printed in London since March 1992.

The Connacht Tribune is a newspaper circulating chiefly in County Galway, Ireland.

<i>The Sunday Press</i>

The Sunday Press was a weekly newspaper published in Ireland from 1949 until 1995. It was launched by Éamon de Valera's Irish Press group following the defeat of his Fianna Fáil party in the 1948 Irish general election. Like its sister newspaper, the daily The Irish Press, politically the paper loyally supported Fianna Fáil.

<i>College Tribune</i> Student newspaper of University College Dublin

The College Tribune is a student newspaper which serves Ireland's largest third level institution, University College Dublin. It was established in 1989 with the assistance of journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne who was attending the university as an evening student at the time. Browne noted the campus' lack of a news outlet which was independent of both the university and University College Dublin Students' Union and alongside founding editor Eamon Dillon set up the Tribune to correct this. Initially, a close working relationship was maintained between the Tribune and the Sunday Tribune which was at the time edited by Browne. This relationship afforded the paper the use of professional production facilities in its fledgling years. Ultimately however, the student newspaper would outlast its national weekly counterpart with the Sunday Tribune having ceased publication in 2011. The College Tribune is UCD's oldest surviving newspaper having been published continuously for over 30 years.

<i>Irish Daily Mail</i> Newspaper in Ireland and Northern Ireland

The Irish Daily Mail is a newspaper published in Ireland and Northern Ireland by DMG Media. The paper launched in February 2006 with a launch strategy that included giving away free copies on the first day of circulation and low pricing subsequently. The 2009 price was one euro. The strategy aimed to attract readers away from the Irish Independent.

The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the Daily Mail, was first published in 1896.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan Davies</span> British newspaper editor

Tristan Davies is a British newspaper executive and former newspaper editor.

References

  1. "Hugh McLaughlin obit, Irish Independent 8 January 2006". Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  2. "First chief executive of Ryanair who fell foul of Tony Ryan". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  3. Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) August 2008 Archived 2007-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. National Newspapers of Ireland Archived 2006-01-11 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Browne, Vincent. The Sunday Business Post. 20 April 2003. Archived 19 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Peter Murtagh". ucc.ie. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  7. Press Gazette. 13 May 2005. Archived 12 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. The Sunday Business Post. 17 November 2002. Archived 25 January 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Profile by Prof John Horgan of Dublin City University Archived 2005-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Sunday Tribune announcement 26 January 2003 [ permanent dead link ]
  11. "JNRS - Survey". jnrs.ie. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  12. Irish Examiner report 1 February 2005
  13. "Receiver appointed to Sunday Tribune" Archived 2011-02-04 at the Wayback Machine . RTÉ News. 1 February 2011.
  14. "No Sunday Tribune for four weeks" Archived 2011-02-05 at the Wayback Machine . RTÉ News. 2 February 2011.
  15. "Criticism of imitation Sunday Tribune masthead" Archived 2011-02-07 at the Wayback Machine . RTÉ News. 6 February 2011.
  16. "'Plagiarism' of 'Tribune' denounced" Archived 2011-02-12 at the Wayback Machine . The Irish Times. 6 February 2011.
  17. "Mail on Sunday criticised for Sunday Tribune trick" Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine . JOE. 6 February 2011.
  18. "Sunday Tribune editor outraged by fake Irish Mail on Sunday" Archived 2017-03-05 at the Wayback Machine . The Guardian. 6 February 2011.
  19. "Editor defends Sunday Tribune mock-up". Irish Examiner. 6 February 2011.
  20. "Receiver suing over Sunday Tribune masthead" Archived 2011-03-25 at the Wayback Machine .
  21. British Newspaper Archive site