BBC To Launch Weekly News Magazine

BBC Magazines will undertake its most ambitious initiative yet with the launch of a weekly news-based magazine later this year or early in 2007.

The project, code named Project Phoenix, sees the resurrection of long-held plans for a news magazine. BBC Magazines managing director Peter Phippen is known to have been keen to launch a news-based magazine since the mid-1990s.

The publication, which is thought to have the working title of Newsbrief, is likely to have international appeal and be linked to BBC news programming, as the Corporation seeks to bring its broadcast and internet news operations under a single BBC News brand.

Last week it was announced that BBC Magazines’ advertising sales director, Ashley Munday, was moving roles and taking up new UK publishing responsibilities for the division (see Teeman New Director of Advertising At BBC Mags). It has been said that he is working on Project Phoenix.

Director general Mark Thompson and chairman Michael Grade are both said to be very keen on the plan.

The BBC developed a similar project a couple of years ago, which BBC world affairs correspondent David Loyn is understood to have worked on for at least a year. However, the plan was dropped.

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