Sport, sex and celebrity puts Mirror back on track (Forced to abandoned anti-Bush, anti-war hate!)

The Guardian ^ | April 24, 2003 | Ciar Byrne

[Timesink]

Sport, sex and celebrity puts Mirror back on track

Ciar Byrne
Monday April 28, 2003
The Guardian

Daily Mirror: first good news for paper since sales fell below 2m earlier this month

More jaw jaw and less war war appears to be the way forward for the Daily Mirror, after a week of "light touch" front page stories gave the tabloid a much-needed circulation boost.

A triple whammy of sport, sex and celebrity saw the Mirror put on 31,000 extra sales last Tuesday, according to unofficial industry estimates.

It is the first piece of good news for the newspaper since its circulation crashed through the psychologically important 2 million barrier for the first time, when official Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for March were released earlier this month.

A story about the West Ham football manager Glenn Roeder suffering a suspected heart attack, combined with Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall on "how to get what you want in bed" and pictures of Kylie Minogue with her new lover, seemed suspiciously like a return to the old-look Mirror.

Editor Piers Morgan was so inspired by the circulation boost provided by the paper's coverage of September 11 that he decided to replace celebrity trivia with serious news on a regular basis, making it a key element of a £20m revamp of the tabloid in May 2002.

The Mirror splashed with stories about the terror attacks every day for a month, selling 2.5m copies as a result, but the effect soon wore off and last year saw a series of disappointing circulation drops for the paper.

In March 2003 sales of the Mirror plummeted to 1,997,846 - the first time in 70 years that the paper's circulation has fallen below 2 million.

Many critics blamed the paper's continued anti-war stance even after the conflict in Iraq was under way for the sales decline.

In contrast, last week's decision to run frothier front pages stories with bright pink headlines, deliberately designed "fun and fluff" and stories that might appeal to women appears to have paid off.

Last Wednesday the paper splashed with claims by quiz show fraudster Major Charles Ingram's wife that she was not evil and did not make her husband cheat.

Readers were also drawn in by a "showbiz exclusive" about S Club's Rachel Stevens and her fallout with her father, accompanied by a page-length picture of the pop star in a slinky, sequinned dress.

Once again the change of tone proved a success and the Mirror's circulation went up by 24,000, according to unofficial estimates.

An explicit picture from the set of raunchy play XXX, alongside a shot of football star Ronaldo fresh from his team's victory over Manchester United and a solid news story about an exam scandal boosted sales of the Mirror by 11,000 last Thursday.

Although Morgan was not at the helm last week - the paper was being run by deputy Des Kelly - the Mirror's editor has already indicated that he needs to rethink the paper and inject a little more fun and froth to bring back lost readers.

[Timesink]

Another outlet of hate silenced!! We win again!

look at those numbers. First time below 2 million in SEVENTY YEARS. Hate doesn't sell!

[dighton]

"Saddam Abandoned Me For Fisk, Says A Tearful John Pilger"

[gcruse]

"Yes, but you got Peter."

[Timesink]

Anyone out there that even cares?

[Pokey78]

The winnah, and still champeen . . . . Robert "The Beirut Bomber" Fisk!