When you call something venerable it can sound like another way of saying 'on its last legs'.
Tribune magazine is venerable but is making every effort not to go under. Its list of previous editors and contributors is astonishing in its quality. The fact that I sometimes to book reviews for them and have written some articles gives me a small egotistical glow in knowing that I have shared a miniscule bit of history with such exalted names.
But selling 4,000 copies a week and relying on trade union donations isn't enough to keep it going and it needs to find a buyer and soon.
There is an editorial in it this week asking about expressions of interest in a reader co-op. I dearly hope Tribune doesn't go to the wall.
It's interesting if you compare it with The Big Issue (another magazine I've worked for). TBI found itself leading opinion ten years ago when it married the rise in social enterprise with an eye for the stories ignored by the mainstream. However, it didn't adapt to changing circumstances and is now shrinking rapidly. Another outlet for alternative viewpoints has been muffled.
As a Tory government looks more likely and the neo-con approach to economics collapses we need a critique from the other side (left, green or just plain angry). There is a hunger, I think, for this kind of news. The web-based media can't supply it all and old-fashioned sectarian ranting doesn't cut it.
There is some news and comment on the Tribune situation on Paul Anderson's blog on mediaGuardian and on Compass.
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