Review: The Planet On Sunday

Sunday saw the launch of Britain’s newest national newspaper The Planet on Sunday, a tabloid with a strong health and environmental slant. As an indication of the paper’s agenda the front-page story concentrates on the safety of children’s health immunisation, rather than the Manchester bombing.

This is a trend throughout the paper, with mainstream stories being sidelined into small columns whilst the features and main stories are concerned with health and environmental issues. Big stories include river pollution, animal cruelty and childhood disease. A letter from the Planet’s publisher Cliff Hards details his reasons for publishing the paper, saying that Britain needs ‘urgent public discussion’ to help prevent environmental disaster, while an aggressive Sun-style opinion column declares war on ‘all posturing politicians, high-flown hypocrites and secretive pen-pushers.’ It says The Planet On Sunday is interested not in sleaze and scandal but ‘straight news only’, whatever that may be.

As well as comment sections from environmental figures, there are Daily Mail-style health, arts and travel pages. The last 8 pages of this 48-page paper are devoted to sport, with the back page containing a headline which could comfortably grace the pages of the Sun: “Gazzacadabra”.

Overall the editorial style and content is lively and informative, making a genuine attempt to reveal green scandals and inform the public. What really lets the paper down however is its design and overall look, which resembles a local paper. The print and paper quality is also poor.

Advertisers include health food manufacturers, ferry lines, charities and health cures. Ad:ed ratio is 3:45. The Planet On Sunday costs 50p and has no supplements.