Regional publisher Archant has launched a new weekly newspaper aimed at the 16m Britons who voted to stay in the European Union.
The New European is set to launch on Friday, 8 July, and will “offer those feeling dismayed and disenfranchised by Brexit a non-political focal point, bringing together the extraordinarily broad spectrum of people who feel a real sense of loss after the Leave vote victory”.
The publisher is calling it a “pop-up paper” and, according to Archant, it “will be delivered to market faster than any other British newspaper in history – just nine days from concept to newsagent”.
It will initially run for four issues, with every issue described as a “collector’s item”. After issue four, it says that “every week’s sale will be a referendum on the next”.
It will be available to order online and have retail distribution in London, Liverpool, Manchester and the south of England.
Issue one includes contributions from:
- Tanit Koch, Editor of Bild, Europe’s most-read newspaper
- James Brown, former Loaded and GQ editor
- Wolfgang Blau, ex editor of Zeit Online and former digital director of The Guardian
- Peter Bale, chief executive of the of the Centre for Public Integrity who broke the Panama Papers global exclusive.
Archant chief content officer Matt Kelly is the launch editor of the new title. He said: “We are currently in an extraordinary period of time in the UK, with all of society seemingly in a state of flux and turmoil.
“I believe the 48 per cent who voted to Remain are not well served by the traditional press and that there is a clear opportunity for a newspaper like The New European that people will want to read and carry like a badge of honour.
“We value expertise and have some of the world’s best brains in their areas writing for us. And it is also a politician-free zone. They are banned.”
Kelly added: “It will be an eclectic and energetic mix of content – not just about the Brexit issue, but a celebration of why we loved Europe so much in the first place. There’ll be plenty of humour in there too – god knows we could all use a laugh these days.”
The new title will be priced at £2 per issue.
Robert Maxwell launched a weekly newspaper called The European in 1990.
It was bought by the Barclay brothers in 1992 and they closed it in 1998 after reportedly losing £74m on the venture.
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