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

[Elyalbert]

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?

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.

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.

Erm, the Mirror?

Exactly, the mirror is the left leaning tabloid.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

The Guardian IS tabloid sized.

I take your point - traditional, paper newspapers are dying. However, millions of people visit the Daily Mail website daily (I got this information by asking ChatonAI) so it’s still an extremely powerful beast. I can’t help thinking there must be some way for a new, less right wing competitor to eat into the Mail’s market share.

not really, I’m not sure anyone is paying to read bullshit propaganda anymore.

There may be a readership gap but the money is falling out of print advertising completely. No advertisers are going to spend their print budget, such as it is, on a new, untested left of centre paper. The ship has just sailed to be able to launch something new in print.

I'd say news orgs like Tortoise Media who work across different media (news site, newsletter, podcasts) and do a lot of investigative stories, are probably the nearest thing. And interestingly it looks like they're buying the Observer now, But I can't see them launching a new print daily.

Fair point - I actually only ever read it online (free through PressReader) and it somehow still looks like a broadsheet. The design of The Guardian is fine, I don’t have a problem with it, but it’s not at all the same vibe as the Daily Mail. It looks more serious-minded and less “fun” eg there are a lot less pictures of celebrities.

Well yes. It's actually news.

When The Guardian decided to be 'digital first ' as a strategy they made a clear call that the newspaper would be, in their words, less News at 10 and more Newsnight. More long form analysis and less breaking news which was redundant in print.

Reading the Express is an oxymoron, they look at the pictures at best.😉

Not exactly midrange, though, is it? OK, it still has some good old fashioned journos like Fleet Street Fox but even her columns are written for a pretty low reading age.

I agree that Today tried to fill this gap and even the i paper for the short time it was in print but I only ever see pensioners picking up physical newspapers, these days, so that ship has sailed, really. (and even then, it's usually the Metro)

I do see your point. Maybe we need a new, more left leaning multi media provider producing content for the mid market rather than an actual, physical paper. It’s just that a paper provides a shortcut to understanding the brand, but maybe that’s just for old fogeys like me (mid 50s).

And I like it. But it’s not appealing to readers of the Daily Mail.