Last days for Tribune?

Matthew Bell's report in this morning's Indy on Tribune magazine is well worth a read.One of the areas that I would like to get into is political magazine writing and Matthew takes a look at the trials and tribulations of one of the most famous.

As he points out

For more than 70 years it has been the cradle of socialist writing, nurturing some of the Left's most brilliant thinkers. Aneurin Bevan and Michael Foot were founder members, George Orwell was once literary editor, and ministers ranging from Robin Cook to Jack Straw have been contributors. But the future of Tribune magazine is hanging in the balance following an emergency meeting in which the perilous state of its finances was laid bare.

The problem for the magazine is that they have run out of cash and have been forced to go back to its backers,the unions for an emeergency loan until a new business model has been approved.

From having a readership of 40,000 in its post 1945 heyday,it is down to around 3,000 with an extra 2,000 from its web operations.

So is it simply sufferiing from the left's inability to promote itself,or

perhaps the product itself is the problem. Is there still an appetite for unapologetically left-wing campaign journalism? McLaughlin, a former political editor at the Sunday Mirror, believes there is, pointing to successful pilot promotions in university campuses. The difficulty has been in reaching the right audience

It is also been hit by a fall in advertising revenue related to Ken Livingstone's defeat in May.

Judgement day is the 18th November when its union backers will decide its fate.