The New Day (newspaper)
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''The New Day'' was a British compact daily newspaper published by Trinity Mirror, launched on 29 February 2016. It was mainly aimed at a middle-aged female audience, and was politically neutral. The editor, Alison Phillips, intended readers to get through the newspaper in under 30 minutes. The first edition was distributed as two million free copies, and the target for regular circulation was 200,000. After a drop in purchases to just 30,000 copies per day, it was announced on 4 May in the same year that the last edition would be published two days later, just two months after its launch.


Launch

''The New Day'' was owned by Trinity Mirror, which also owns the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'', ''
Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...
'', and ''
Sunday People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...
''. It was first published for free on Monday 29 February 2016, as the first new British national daily newspaper since the '' i'' in 2010, and the first new standalone title since ''
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 ...
'' in 1986. The newspaper, 40 pages long, was primarily aimed at a female audience between 35 and 55. It was edited by Alison Phillips, who had held the same position at the ''Sunday Mirror'' and ''Sunday People''. It was published by a staff of 25, most of whom were on short-term contracts or borrowed from the publishers' other titles. There were "five or six" columnists; unlike most newspapers they did not have set days on which they wrote. The paper had no affiliation with any political party, unlike many British papers, and was aimed at people who bought no other daily newspaper. It established an online presence through
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
as opposed to a website. Trinity Mirror chief executive Simon Fox said the paper filled "a gap in the market for a daily newspaper designed to co-exist in a digital age". Fox said that the number of people buying a daily newspaper had been declining by 500,000 a year, and those readers could be tempted to consider ''The New Day''. Phillips eschewed traditional newspaper structures, saying the team had "started with a blank piece of paper" and a typical reader should be able to digest the entire content within 30 minutes. She aimed to differentiate the newspaper from its
right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
competitors the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' and ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'', saying "We are speaking to modern families in the language they use and with the positivity about what they feel in their lives", and claimed that research favours balanced opinion. A press release issued by the publishers of ''The New Day'' stated that the paper would "...report with an upbeat, optimistic approach and will be politically neutral". A report in ''
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 ...
'' suggested the paper could attract readers away from the ''Mail'' and ''Express''. In Scotland, ''The New Day'' was sold only in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. Fox believed that a separate Scottish staff would have been needed for it to be sold across Scotland, because it would have been dismissed as "too English" due to the differences in government policy between the two countries.


Cessation of publication

Trinity Mirror had a decline in revenue and profit in 2015, and it was hoped that the new title would reverse that. Its first edition was distributed as two million free copies. Sales figures were to be kept secret, until April's figures would be published by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. After a two-week period costing 25 p, the regular price was to rise to 50p, but the date of the rise was postponed slightly, eventually rising to 50p on Thursday 17 March 2016. Fox aimed to have a regular circulation of 200,000. A further ''Guardian'' report on 20 March suggested the paper may only have been selling 90,000 copies per day. Later reports revealed that its circulation had been between 30,000 and 40,000. On 4 May 2016, within 10 weeks of its launch, it was announced that the final edition of ''The New Day'' would be published on 6 May. A Trinity Mirror spokeswoman would not comment on claims that it was running at an annual loss of £1 million. Roy Greenslade explained in ''
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 ...
'' how ''The New Day'' had failed. He pinpointed the error of marketing a newspaper to people who dislike newspapers, and the short interval between the announcement and launch, which left insufficient time to advertise the product. On a practical basis, it was published early in the evening because it shared presses with the ''Daily Mirror'', thus it missed out on late-night breaking news such as Leicester City's shock win of the
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. Greenslade attributed all of the blame to Fox for green-lighting the idea.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Day, The Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom Publications disestablished in 2016 Publications established in 2016 2016 establishments in the United Kingdom 2016 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Newspapers published by Reach plc