Saturday, July 09, 2016

Pro-European paper launches on back of Brexit

A new newspaper has launched in the UK aimed at the 48% of Britons who voted unsuccessfully to stay in the European Union.

The tabloid sized paper hit news stand on Friday [8th July] exactly a fortnight after Britain learnt the so-called Brexit campaign had victored over the Remain camp.

The New European paper says it aims to cater for what it called a sense of dismay and anger amongst Remain voters. Although with a cover price of £2 [currently equivalent to $2.60 or €2.34] some potential customers might themselves recoil with dismay given most newspapers sell for a pound or less.

However, The New European will appear weekly for the next three Fridays, mostly in areas that voted to stay in the EU in June's referendum such as London, Liverpool and Manchester.

The New European is said to be the quickest newspaper launch in British history but its future will however depend on sales. Essentially "every week's sale will be a referendum on the next" according to the publishers Archant who have run off 200,000 copies - a quarter of which which went to Manchester alone.
The first edition featured a brightly coloured front page carrying trailers for the paper's contributors alongside a large cartoon depicting a dog thinking to itself why people would vote for uncertainty, instability, isolation and beleaguerment.

Inside the first issue editor Matt Kelly writes of the shock he says many pro-EU voters felt at the referendum result.

"Walking in London the day after the vote was like walking through the world's biggest funeral parlour," he said in an introductory leader. "Everywhere the sense of bereavement was palpable."

The paper features articles from journalists across Europe including Tanit Koch, editor of Germany's Bild, and Wolfgang Blau, former journalist for the Guardian and Germany's weekly Die Zeit.

While it's difficult to judge sales after only a day on the newsstands, there were some indications the price was putting some people off.

One retail worker Catherine Dash, 20, told Reuters she liked the paper's style and colours but said, "I don't think it's worth two pounds."

The New European's launch comes at a difficult time for the newspaper print industry which has been in decline in recent years. In March this year the Independent newspaper went online-only after nearly 30 years in print, and publisher Trinity Mirror closed its "New Day" title in May just two months after it was launched.

More reports: MetroNewsweekHuffington PostThe DrumReuters

tvnewswatch, London

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