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The ''Daily News'' was a short-lived Irish
tabloid newspaper A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to de ...
launched in 1982 by
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
businessman Hugh McLaughlin, the owner of the ''
Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...
''. The paper proved a financial and critical disaster from its first issue on such a scale that it forced its sister paper, the recently launched ''Sunday Tribune'', which had been building its sales, into
liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...
.Hugh Oram, ''The Advertising Book: The History of Advertising in Ireland''. MO Books, (p. 422). Among the complaints levelled against the ''Daily News'' were its substandard design, poor printing, poor quality and a concept that had little to offer. However, the paper's extremely poor distribution was the single greatest cause of its demise. Quite frequently, the morning edition was not delivered to newsagents in the capital, Dublin, until 8.00am or after — when its target demographic was already in work. This was crucial — if the 'News' could have breached a critical circulation figure, its undercapitalisation could have been remedied, but advertising revenue failed to roll in and McLaughlin was forced to shut it down. One big mistake proved to be a decision to put a photograph of the topless wife of businessman
John DeLorean John Zachary DeLorean ( ; January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry. He is widely known as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, as well as for his work at General Motor ...
on the front page. Used without her permission, the publication of the image enraged feminists, infuriated DeLorean, offended many readers and was of such poor quality that even those who wished to see the picture could not see it clearly. Within days of the débâcle the paper folded. Its sister paper, the ''Sunday Tribune'', was saved from bankruptcy by journalist
Vincent Browne Vincent Browne (born 17 July 1944) is an Irish people, Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with ''The Irish Times'' and ''The Sunday Business Post'' and a non-practising barrister. From 1996 until 2007, he presented a night ...
, who bought the title. A decade later, another newly launched sister newspaper of the ''Tribune'', the ''Dublin Tribune'', again forced the financially successful ''Tribune'' to the brink of closure and again forced a change in ownership. No-one however bought the rights to the ''Daily News'' following its closure in 1982.


Notes

{{Newspapers in the Republic of Ireland 1982 establishments in Ireland 1982 disestablishments in Ireland Defunct newspapers published in Ireland Newspapers established in 1982 Publications disestablished in 1982