The ''News on Sunday'' was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

tabloid

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

. It was launched in April 1987. Publication ceased seven months later, in November 1987.

Origins

The founders of the paper were former members of the

group Big Flame. They decided that a left-wing mass-circulation tabloid Sunday newspaper was possible and endeavoured to start one. The idea of the paper was originally thought up by Benjamin Lowe. The leaders were

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilge ...

as editor-in-chief and Alan Hayling, but Pilger left before the newspaper was launched. The decision to base its headquarters in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

was criticised as it was away from the centre of national political activity. The paper gave a controlling interest to a collective of

workers The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

and its share issue raised £6.5 million from

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

and Labour

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

pension funds. Keith Sutton was appointed editor.

Launch and bankruptcy

The advertisement campaign for the paper was carried out by BBH (Bartle, Bogle & Hegarty), who came up with the slogan "No tits but a lot of balls", in an attempt to distance the paper from those with images of topless women, and emphasise an overt political agenda not usually associated with tabloids. The slogan offended the feminists working on the paper and was subsequently dropped, though an element of the idea survived for the TV advert. The slogan used was "The paper that bites back". The newspaper's attitude to

news values News values are "criteria that influence the selection and presentation of events as published news." These values help explain what makes something "newsworthy." News values are not universal and can vary between different cultures. Among the m ...

, and the inexperience of its staff, was illustrated on the front page of its first edition on 26 April. The lead story was about a boy in Brazil who had to sell one of his kidneys to pay for medical care. Although most agreed that this was a worthwhile issue, the story was considered inappropriate as the lead story for a British Sunday paper. The paper was not as successful as had been hoped. In order to break even, the paper had to sell 800,000 copies. The first issue sold 500,000 and by its eighth issue circulation had gone down to 200,000. The failure of the paper is attributed to inexperienced staff, "bad management, poor marketing, a commitment to political correctness and ideological purity at the expense of news values". However the paper was kept afloat during the general election campaign thanks to the extension of an additional subordinated loan from the

TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

, so that its folding would not embarrass the Labour Party. It went bankrupt immediately after the election had been held and was purchased by

Owen Oyston Owen John Oyston (born 3 January 1934) is an English former businessman best known as the former majority owner of Blackpool Football Club. Oyston was convicted of rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl in 1996. He served three years and ...

but finally closed down five months later, in November 1987. Two ex-employees, Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie, wrote a "withering" account of its demise called ''Disaster!''.

Editorial line

The newspaper was

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

in tone and

internationalist Internationalist may refer to: * Internationalism (politics), a movement to increase cooperation across national borders * Liberal internationalism, a doctrine in international relations * Internationalist/Defencist Schism, socialists opposed to ...

in outlook. It supported the principle of

self determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

for all

nations A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by t ...

and regarded British

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

as 'based on the unequal ownership of

wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

, prosperity and

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

'. It also believed that the root cause of

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

was the 'British presence in that country'. It supported trade unions when they went on strike and was against the 'imposition of suffering on animals'.

References

{{Defunct UK newspapers Defunct weekly newspapers Newspapers published in Manchester Newspapers established in 1987 Publications disestablished in 1987 Socialist newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom 1987 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct Sunday newspapers published in the United Kingdom