''The Sunday Correspondent'' was a short-lived

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

weekly national

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

. The newspaper first appeared on 17 September 1989; the title ceased publication with the last issue on 25 November 1990. It was edited by Peter Cole for most of its existence.Peter Col
"Sunday Wars"
''The Spectator'', 24 August 1990, p. 17 Cole later entered academia.

Launch

On launching, the paper billed itself as the first new quality Sunday title for 28 years (since the launch of ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' in 1961). The Chicago-based

Tribune Company Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

, publishers of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' newspaper, were one of the investors in the new venture. Others included the Prudential Group and Rothschild Ventures, among other banking and financial institutions.Jennifer Cunningha
"New Sundays set for head-on collision"
''The Glasgow Herald'', 20 July 1989 Interviewed in July 1989 by ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', chief executive Nick Shott said the new title was to be aimed at younger readers of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''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 publis ...

'', market research having suggested a potential readership existed there, but he also anticipated picking up interest from purchasers of the middle market titles. The newspaper was planned as having only two sections and a colour supplement. By this time, the imminent launch of ''

The Independent on Sunday ''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 publishe ...

'' was public knowledge, and Shott himself did not think both titles could survive. At around this time, in the summer of 1989, talks took place between the holding companies of both newspapers, but failed because while the Sunday Correspondent Ltd were interested in a joint venture, Newspaper Publishing PLC wanted to buy its imminent competitor.Steven Prokesc
"The Media Business: British 'Quality' Paper Finds New Financing"
''The New York Times'' 7 March 1990

Crisis and closure

In March 1990, in a refinancing arrangement, the Tribune Company of Chicago doubled its shareholding to a 17.7% holding, and invested $2.9 million, making it the largest shareholder. Guardian and Manchester Evening News P.L.C., then without a national Sunday title, also became involved acquiring a 16.6% stake and gave the struggling company a substantial loan. The company had said the paper's break-even point was a circulation of 350,000, but the title was then selling only 220,000 copies. By the time it ceased publication just over a year after its launch, it had been relaunched as Britain's first quality tabloid. In this form, from the issue published on 20 August 1990 onwards, it had a new editor, John Bryant. Underfunding and the launch of the ''IoS'' in January 1990 were factors in its demise, as well as the lack of a daily equivalent to help spread production costs. The ''IoS'' was also in competition with ''The Sunday Correspondent'' for the same sources of potential investment.

Legacy

Journalists

Jonathan Freedland Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist who writes a weekly column for ''The Guardian''. He presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series ''The Long View''. Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the ...

and

Luke Harding Luke Daniel Harding (born 21 April 1968) is a British journalist who is a foreign correspondent for ''The Guardian''. He was based in Russia for ''The Guardian'' from 2007 until, returning from a stay in the UK on 5 February 2011, he was refu ...

of ''The Guardian'',

Ian Katz Ian Alexander Katz (born 9 February 1968) is a British journalist and broadcasting executive who is currently Chief Content Officer at Channel 4, overseeing all editorial decision making and commissioning across Channel 4's linear channels, str ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...

's political editor

Robert Peston Robert James Kenneth Peston (born 25 April 1960) is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the political editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show '' Peston'' (previously '' Peston on Sunday''). From 2006 ...

and art critic

Andrew Graham-Dixon Andrew Michael Graham-Dixon (born 26 December 1960) is a British art historian and broadcaster. Life and career Early life and education Andrew Graham-Dixon is a son of the barrister Anthony Philip Graham-Dixon (1929–2012), Q.C., and (M ...

all started their national careers on the title. Other prominent journalists on the staff were Henry Porter, who edited the magazine, Donald Macintyre formerly of ''

'', feature editor Mick Brown, foreign correspondent

David Blundy David Michael Blundy (21 March 1945 – 17 November 1989), was a British journalist and war correspondent killed by a sniper at the age 44 in El Salvador. Blundy, 44, was the Washington reporter for the London ''Sunday Correspondent'' newspaper. ...

and Catherine Bennett. One of the features in the paper was

Pass Notes Pass Notes is a regular tongue-in-cheek feature in the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', first published in the short-lived '' Sunday Correspondent'' newspaper in 1989. It has been published in ''The Guardian'' since 1992, with a four-year hiatus bet ...

, which was taken up by ''The Guardian'' in 1992, where it remains as of February 2022.Peter Wilb
"Alan Rusbridger: the quiet evangelist"
''New Statesman'', 30 May 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday Correspondent 1989 establishments in the United Kingdom 1990 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct weekly newspapers Newspapers established in 1989 Publications disestablished in 1990 Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom Defunct Sunday newspapers published in the United Kingdom