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Sunday, 6 February 2011
Twist in the Tribune tale
There is a fascinating twist in the Sunday Tribune story. At first, it looked as though the Tribune, which called in the Receiver this week and suspended publication, had appeared on Ireland's news-stands after all this morning. In fact it was four pages wrapped around the Mail on Sunday. There is inevitably lots of outraged reaction from Tribune readers and staff and an explanation from the MoS editor. The story is covered by RTE. But all of that aside, it's interesting to see there are still newspaper sales departments with some 'street' creativity. My favourite newspaper marketing story comes from the 1980s when a strike meant that the Daily Express and Daily Star would not be printed. The Birmingham Mail ran the story of the strike and then went into Wolverhampton - the home of the Express & Star - with bill posters declaring No Express and Star today. Good tale ... although it may well be apocryphal. If anyone knows anything more, I would love to hear it.
As a member of staff in Sunday Tribune who has spent years trying to turn it away from being a rag, I'm sorry if "street creativity" as you call it is little consolation to us, especially when a paper that stands for everything we don't asks in thus scummy manner. And their excuse of wanting to show people they are Irish is as pathetic as their content, after all for years this has been the most xenophobic of rags.
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