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Original poster

Gap in the market for left of centre mid-range newspaper

40 replies

Elyalbert · 22/09/2024 20:42

It strikes me that there is a gap in the market for a new mid-range newspaper which is left of centre. At the moment only The Guardian provides a more pro Labour angle and a large proportion of people prefer their newspapers to be tabloid-size and to include entertainment and lifestyle stories (and pictures) as well as covering serious news. At the moment these people are restricted to newspapers like the Daily Express and the Daily Mail which seem to be getting more rabidly anti-Labour by the day. Seriously, the Mail’s coverage of the Government is starting to remind me of the way they bullied Meghan Markle before she left. I believe a left of centre, mid range, tabloid sized newspaper would be good for the country because it would provide a counter balance to the relentless negativity about what Labour are trying to do to a wider demographic. I know newspapers are being overtaken by online news providers but surely there is some way a new paper and online news outlet could be brought into being? Am I wrong?

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Daisymay2 · 22/09/2024 22:52

The I ? Centre to leftish. I have it on line and buy the weekend paper.

Original poster
Elyalbert · 22/09/2024 22:48

MotiRoller · 22/09/2024 22:38

That’s what the Independent was supposed to be and it was one of the first print papers to fold

The Independent was more of a quality newspaper than a mid market (ie competing with The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, The Times). A different target market. I used to like the Independent, but then it went downhill, sadly.

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Original poster
Elyalbert · 22/09/2024 22:43

AboutVattime · 22/09/2024 22:21

Papers are bought by the over 75s ...who are almost exclusively Tory supporters telling them what they want to hear...

It’s a bit what came first: the chicken or the egg? Are the Daily Mail merely giving their readers what they want to hear (because it’s what they already believe) or are they influencing their readers to become more right wing? Anyway, if what you say about the age of the readers is true the “Daily Mail problem” should solve itself in the next ten to 15 years. Time will tell.

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MotiRoller · 22/09/2024 22:38

That’s what the Independent was supposed to be and it was one of the first print papers to fold

Original poster
Elyalbert · 22/09/2024 22:31

KnottedTwine · 22/09/2024 22:04

Exactly, the mirror is the left leaning tabloid.

I think of The Mirror (and The Sun) as being more down-market than mid-market. They’re not targeting the same audience as The Daily Mail.

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AboutVattime · 22/09/2024 22:21

Papers are bought by the over 75s ...who are almost exclusively Tory supporters telling them what they want to hear...

Murpe · 22/09/2024 22:19

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Day_(newspaper) this is what I was thinking of, from Mirror Group. 'Neutral' rather than Left, though, I misremembered. It lasted just over two months in 2016.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 22/09/2024 22:14

DS works on national media. He wouldn’t touch print media. A declining and decaying market.

I think the figures quoted as readership are actually very low. There’s 67 m people in UK. And 400000 read the Express. That’s a minuscule amount

tobee · 22/09/2024 22:11

The European?

The Observer? Sundays only obviously.

But really there's no money in newspapers sadly. And even more so for anything left of centre.

Murpe · 22/09/2024 22:10

Something like that did launch about 8 or 9 years ago, it was meant to be Mail or Express, mid-market level. I remember the first cover, but not what it was called. New something? It didn't last long.

KnottedTwine · 22/09/2024 22:04

Exactly, the mirror is the left leaning tabloid.

Summerhillsquare · 22/09/2024 22:03

Erm, the Mirror?

Original poster
Elyalbert · 22/09/2024 21:42

LividSquid · 22/09/2024 21:22

Nobody buys newspapers any more. The industry is dying and desperately trying to convert print to online clicks.

The papers that are still going can barely cling on, there’s no way another would survive.

Apparently the Daily Mail sells about 900,000 copies a day and the Daily Express sells about 400,000 - maybe those figures aren’t very high, but they’re more than nothing. I think the people buying these papers are ripe to be poached (esp the Daily Express readers; that paper is dire.) I don’t like the Daily Mail’s views, but it is undeniably entertaining and well put together. We need something that can compete with that. The Today newspaper was no competition for the Daily Mail in terms of being an enjoyable read; from my recollection it was very thin gruel. I accept, of course, that a top rate online news platform would have to run alongside the new paper and might in the future overtake it. I’m just reluctant to accept that nobody has the appetite to challenge the existing media status quo.

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LividSquid · 22/09/2024 21:22

Nobody buys newspapers any more. The industry is dying and desperately trying to convert print to online clicks.

The papers that are still going can barely cling on, there’s no way another would survive.

myslippersarepink · 22/09/2024 21:09

I liked the Today newspaper that came out quite a few years ok for a period of time. Unfortunately it's a pricey old game, publishing.