To those who said The New Day was doomed from the outset I say this.
The Evening Standard looked doomed a few years ago, free daily Metro also appeared doomed in its early days and many said the i was similarly ill-fated.
Yet the Standard and Metro today turn healthy profits, the i has survived more than five years and was deemed a robust enough prospect for Johnston Press to buy it for £24m.
Who would have predicted that The Times, a paper which lost stupendous amounts for Rupert Murdoch even in the boom times for print, would make an £11m profit last year?
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The broad decline in the fortunes of British journalism is not universal or inevitable.
The concept of The New Day was a fine one. An upbeat national title with an impartial approach and an apparent focus on explaining the news for time-pressed parents
Maybe it was doomed. But all the above titles were given years and millions in investment to turn their fortunes around.
The New Day was given just two months. I would be surprised if any national newspaper has ever turned a profit so soon after launch.
The price rise to 50p came after just over two weeks, making it already 10p more expensive than its nearest rival i.
The early print deadline made it harder to lead on news and made its sports coverage hopelessly out of date.
And with just 25 editorial staff it was impossible to paper over the fact that it did not have the editorial weight of competitor titles.
It would have needed major changes and investment to stand a chance of succeeding.
The print national daily newspaper market is currently in steep decline. So on the face of it, a new daily newspaper succeeding might have looked as likely as Leicester winning the Premier League.
But as the i and Evening Standard show, sometimes underdogs can come out on top in the news industry.
Trinity Mirror deserves huge credit for giving it a go and experimenting. Now, more than ever, news organisations must try – and fail – if they are going to find a way to succeed in this increasingly digital age.
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