The ''Tribune'' was the official British Liberal Party newspaper founded by

Franklin Thomasson Franklin 'Frankie' Thomasson (16 August 1873 – 29 October 1941) was an English 20th century MP. Descended from a well known family of cotton spinners from Bolton, Lancashire, Franklin Thomasson was born on 16 August 1873 at Alderley Edge, Ches ...

MP in 1906 as a bold but disastrous experiment in newspaper production. It was a

penny newspaper A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...

of a solid but serious nature, edited first by William Hill, formerly of the ''Westminster Gazette,'' and later by S.G. Pryor. Thomasson gathered about him for the purpose one of the most distinguished staffs in the history of journalism, and the amount of money involved was enormous. However, ''Tribune'' was unable to generate a mass readership and attracted little advertising revenue. After losing some £300,000 on the paper—which, with 800 paid employees, was seriously overmanned—Thomasson was forced to liquidate his investment, and the ''Tribune'' ceased its short career in 1908.

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