Just when you thought the newspaper industry was breathing it’s last breath

Trinity Mirror has just announced the launch of a new national daily newspaper. The New Day, launched on February 29^th, will be the first new national daily to hit our newsstands in 30 years.

Bosses at Trinity claim the stand-alone publication is aimed at “time poor” readers and will provide “a ruthless edit of the day” for people who have traditionally chosen digital news sources over print titles.

The New Day’s approach to the web is somewhat revolutionary. While The New Day will have a social media presence, its content will not be published online. A strategy many publishers will be watching closely. Could turning your back on the Internet be the smart way to monetise newspaper content in the digital age?

Many industry pundits suggest the launch of The New Day, which claims to be politically independent, is designed to fill a gap by the soon to closed print edition of The Independent and the sale of The i to regional newspaper publisher The Johnston Press. Trinity are keen however to stress The New Day will not be a “light” version of The Mirror.

The real question is, will any of the “half-million” readers Trinity suggests have chosen not to pick up a newspaper in the past 12 months be tempted back to the print product?

Will The New Day breathe new life into a struggling industry or is this a naïve attempt to recapture the glory days of the print industry? Putting competitive issues to the side, I suspect the entire newspaper industry will hoping Trinity Mirrors investment in traditional media will somehow help re-invent the industry. Watch this space.