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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| The New Day lives up to its promise to be a different kind of daily | The New Day lives up to its promise to be a different kind of daily |
| (6 months later) | |
| It’s a newspaper all right, but not as you know it. The New Day made its eye-catching debut with a free issue that is more magazine than newspaper, a feel-good, colourful, sub-editorial confection that lives up to its promise to be a novel addition to the newsstand. | It’s a newspaper all right, but not as you know it. The New Day made its eye-catching debut with a free issue that is more magazine than newspaper, a feel-good, colourful, sub-editorial confection that lives up to its promise to be a novel addition to the newsstand. |
| It screamed new and alternative, beginning with the masthead - turquoise or duck egg blue? - and on through a succession of digest-style news pages, big pictures and short features. Two spreads were devoted to sport, but without any news or match reports. Now that is different. | It screamed new and alternative, beginning with the masthead - turquoise or duck egg blue? - and on through a succession of digest-style news pages, big pictures and short features. Two spreads were devoted to sport, but without any news or match reports. Now that is different. |
| There were two pages in which the weekend results were concealed in digested paragraphs. Then, several pages on, there was another spread, tagged “sportopinioneers”, in which Robbie Fowler lamented Liverpool losing the Capital One cup and Ugo Monye praised England’s rugby victory. | There were two pages in which the weekend results were concealed in digested paragraphs. Then, several pages on, there was another spread, tagged “sportopinioneers”, in which Robbie Fowler lamented Liverpool losing the Capital One cup and Ugo Monye praised England’s rugby victory. |
| Aware of the public’s disenchantment with newsprint, The New Day’s bouncy “mission statement” said: “We know this can’t just be another newspaper. It has to be a new type of newspaper.” | Aware of the public’s disenchantment with newsprint, The New Day’s bouncy “mission statement” said: “We know this can’t just be another newspaper. It has to be a new type of newspaper.” |
| What editor Alison Phillips and her team have delivered is part Metro, part i, part women’s magazine, and - fair to say - a distinctive daily paper. | What editor Alison Phillips and her team have delivered is part Metro, part i, part women’s magazine, and - fair to say - a distinctive daily paper. |
| The fast-paced 40 pages won’t detain readers for long, which is the point because it was created on the understanding that its target audience - aged 35 to 55 - is time poor. | The fast-paced 40 pages won’t detain readers for long, which is the point because it was created on the understanding that its target audience - aged 35 to 55 - is time poor. |
| Nor will readers be stretched by the content. The editorial matter was mostly light-hearted and relentlessly upbeat. Rightly, as promised, there was no discernible political bias. In fact, there was no politics of substance whatsoever. | Nor will readers be stretched by the content. The editorial matter was mostly light-hearted and relentlessly upbeat. Rightly, as promised, there was no discernible political bias. In fact, there was no politics of substance whatsoever. |
| “Today’s big question” was a debate about the investigatory powers bill (aka snoopers’ charter) in which two double-barrelled writers, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Julia Hartley-Brewer, fired off alternative views in barely 200 words. | “Today’s big question” was a debate about the investigatory powers bill (aka snoopers’ charter) in which two double-barrelled writers, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Julia Hartley-Brewer, fired off alternative views in barely 200 words. |
| Amid the sea of froth were four serious spreads - on the European Union referendum, on Tanzanian killings of albino children, on school bullies and a sensitive piece about children who act as carers. | Amid the sea of froth were four serious spreads - on the European Union referendum, on Tanzanian killings of albino children, on school bullies and a sensitive piece about children who act as carers. |
| That article about infant carers was chosen as the paper’s poster-style front page. It showed a picture of a little boy carrying two shopping bags with the headline “Stolen childhood”. There had something of the old-style Independent viewspaper feel about it. | That article about infant carers was chosen as the paper’s poster-style front page. It showed a picture of a little boy carrying two shopping bags with the headline “Stolen childhood”. There had something of the old-style Independent viewspaper feel about it. |
| Phillips told my colleague, Mark Sweney, that “we’ve thrown out all the previous thinking on how a newspaper should be structured.” In fact, she appears to have taken on board previous innovations and then given them a mighty spin in order to produce her new newsprint baby. | Phillips told my colleague, Mark Sweney, that “we’ve thrown out all the previous thinking on how a newspaper should be structured.” In fact, she appears to have taken on board previous innovations and then given them a mighty spin in order to produce her new newsprint baby. |
| Unlike previous national newspaper launches, there is not much of a financial risk for its publisher, Trinity Mirror. | Unlike previous national newspaper launches, there is not much of a financial risk for its publisher, Trinity Mirror. |
| It has spent a good deal on television adverts. It has chosen heavy-duty newsprint. It has given away many thousands of copies today without much advertising content. | It has spent a good deal on television adverts. It has chosen heavy-duty newsprint. It has given away many thousands of copies today without much advertising content. |
| But editorial content is, clearly, not going to cost much. It is drawn from Mirror staff and agencies. Printing and distribution won’t have been too much of an on-cost. | But editorial content is, clearly, not going to cost much. It is drawn from Mirror staff and agencies. Printing and distribution won’t have been too much of an on-cost. |
| But will it find that mystical gap in the market? Given the experience of i and Metro, I can imagine people wanting to read it. I doubt, however, whether they will pay to do so. | But will it find that mystical gap in the market? Given the experience of i and Metro, I can imagine people wanting to read it. I doubt, however, whether they will pay to do so. |
| From tomorrow it will be 25p for its first two weeks, and 50p thereafter. That means The New Day will be more expensive than a couple of other dailies - 20p Daily Star and the 40p i - plus the free Metro. And it will be only 10p cheaper than the Daily Mirror.* | From tomorrow it will be 25p for its first two weeks, and 50p thereafter. That means The New Day will be more expensive than a couple of other dailies - 20p Daily Star and the 40p i - plus the free Metro. And it will be only 10p cheaper than the Daily Mirror.* |
| It should have been free for at least two weeks in order to have given itself time to build an audience. And I do think, despite its lightweight editorial approach (and perhaps because of it), that it would find a readership of at least 200,000. | It should have been free for at least two weeks in order to have given itself time to build an audience. And I do think, despite its lightweight editorial approach (and perhaps because of it), that it would find a readership of at least 200,000. |
| I note that i was worried enough by the newcomer to publish a front page blurb calling itself “Britain’s only concise quality newspaper”. Let battle commence! | I note that i was worried enough by the newcomer to publish a front page blurb calling itself “Britain’s only concise quality newspaper”. Let battle commence! |
| *In the original posting, I said the Daily Express was 10p. It is 55p and carries a boast that it is 10p cheaper than the Daily Mail. Sorry for the error. | *In the original posting, I said the Daily Express was 10p. It is 55p and carries a boast that it is 10p cheaper than the Daily Mail. Sorry for the error. |