Why The Planet on Sunday?
In 1996, an idealistic/overly ambitious/young journalist answered a small ad looking for a news editor to launch the UK’s first national newspaper seeking to do things differently. The idea was to be a mainstream newspaper concentrating on environmental issues and being proudly based outside of the London media bubble.
One interview with its flamboyant editor Austin Michelson later resulted in me landing my first news editor job on a soon-to-launch national tabloid newspaper, The Planet on Sunday. It was a wild and bizarre time. The launch event involved the editor dressing up as cartoon character Dan Dare and entering the drinks party in a cloud of dry ice. Obviously it couldn’t last.
Falling to earth with a bump
In today’s terminology it “failed fast”. The eccentric financial backer Clifford Hards pulled the plug on his £0.5M indulgence as the very first issue hit the newstands. After the lights went out in the Birmingham office (literally), staff were escorted from the premises and the title limped over to new owners Northcliffe (which publishes The Daily Mail) before disappearing.
That was - until 2023.
As an experiment, The Planet on Sunday was offered as part of my local weekly newsletter, The Northern Eco but, being unashamedly global, the fit wasn’t perfect which is why I’ve takem the decision to separate them out. Being editor/owner/writer/secretary/driver means I can return the title to what I hoped it would be when I went to that interview all those years ago - a curated pick of global, environmental, hopeful journalism. For the time being this will be a monthly curation but who knows - you’re joining us on a journey and it could become something much more if there’s demand. Please do let me know what you think.