Matt Kelly talks to Neil Merrick about a global magazine where nothing is taboo newspapers


The brave New B


ritain’s departure from the EU stirred a variety of emotions. Some people rejoiced, others despaired – and Matt Kelly showed defiance by launching a newspaper. The first edition of The New European


appeared in July 2016, just 10 days after the EU referendum. It aimed to show that Brexit would not prevent the UK from having a constructive relationship with the rest of Europe and sold 40,000 copies, a figure that was never to be surpassed. “There was a sense of frustration that the UK had gone that


way but it was also a publishing opportunity,” recalls Kelly. “There was a large constituency of people that suddenly had a new name and were angry about the same thing.” Nine years later, The New European is no more. Since June,


it has been rebranded The New World, in recognition of the fact that, while leaving the EU may have been a huge mistake, it is no longer enough to be simply anti-Brexit. The new title was dreamt up by Saul Klein, an entrepreneur


and venture capitalist, and one of thousands of people (including more than 2,000 subscribers) who can claim to be investors in The New World. During a meeting with Kelly in March, Klein noted that, as


The New European, the paper had broadened its horizons and was portraying what might be seen as a new world. “It was a lightbulb moment,” says Kelly, who was delighted to discover there was not already a title with the same name. “I thought the name change would open up new markets


and give us a shot in the arm in terms of publicity. We also wanted to rethink what we were doing and be more of a magazine rather than a paper.” As editor-in-chief, Kelly ensured his big-name writers,


including Alistair Campbell and Paul Mason, moved across to the new title. New recruits included Sonia Sodha, once of The Observer, and Tom Baldwin, biographer of Keir Starmer. The New World employs 10 full-time staff, often working remotely. Some freelancers work three days a week, while others write one article per edition or contribute more occasionally. “We want to keep fixed costs low but employ the best


journalists we can on a freelance basis,” says Kelly. The magazine (as it has in effect become) is published each Thursday, with the digital edition normally available a day earlier. There is, however, a different feel to the print edition, which is on shiny white paper in stark contrast to what Kelly describes as “48 pages of the cheapest dog shit newspaper”. About half of The New World’s 30,000 subscribers pay for the print edition. In a typical week, the magazine also sells between 4,000 and 5,000 copies on news stands, depending on whether people can find it. While Waitrose and WH Smith (now TGJones) normally place copies alongside the likes of The Economist and the London Review of Books but some supermarkets are less


12 | theJournalist


How The New European became The New World


• 2016 The New European appears for the first time, 10 days after the UK voted to leave the European Union


• 2019 Jasper Copping replaces Matt Kelly as editor, but Kelly remains editor- in-chief


• 2021 Kelly and others buy the paper from regional publisher Archant after the latter runs into financial trouble


• 2023 Co-owners’ campaign sees 2,200 subscribers invest about £1m in the paper


• 2025 The New World is launched in place of The New European


keen. “They want to sell more tins of baked beans,” says Kelly. But he is reassured that, by and large, former readers of The


New European are finding their way to The New World for quality journalism and a different perspective on a world that, nine years after Brexit, continues to ‘unravel’ in front of voters who are seduced by promises of populist politicians. There is no editorial line. In July, Paul Mason stirred up more than a little controversy by suggesting the UK government had been correct to ban Palestine Action by declaring it a terrorist organisation. Letters poured in, to the delight of Kelly, who nevertheless staunchly disagrees with Mason on this point. “There are no taboos,” explains Kelly. “I’d never dream of telling people what our line is. I want a collection of opinionated and talented writers.” At the time The New European was launched in 2016, Kelly


was chief content officer at Archant, a regional publisher. While he saw Archant as the best publisher to launch the anti-Brexit paper, Kelly did not consider it the right one for long-term success. By the time Archant ran into financial trouble in late 2020,


The New European had been ‘pootling along’ for more than four years. A buyout involving Kelly and others gave the paper a new lease of like and felt like a sea change. “I don’t think they understood its value. I got it very cheap,” he adds. But more money was needed and was subsequently raised via a co-owners’ campaign in 2023 that saw 2,200 subscribers put in anything between £15 and £20,000. Together, they raised about £1m, meaning readers now own about 16% of the title. By the time The New World appeared in June, the title had been running at a profit for more than six months. “With the rebrand, we’ve been in investment mode so we don’t anticipate returning to profit until quarter four of this year,” says Kelly. “The important thing for me personally was to prove the theory that the business could be profitable. Now the job is growth.” The rebrand, he says, was comparatively easy. Kelly expresses surprise that other publications do not take on a fresh look or new title more frequently in the same way as non-media products. As the title suggests, The New World is taking an


increasingly worldwide outlook. It is not enough to focus on Europe (where the magazine employs regular freelancers) or even Trumpian America. Moving forward, it plans to devote more coverage to China, South America and sub- Saharan Africa. For now, most readers are in the UK, but perhaps not for long. “I think it would be a bit mad for a title called The New World not to think about international markets, so it’s on the radar,” says Kelly. Within the magazine, there is a mix of hard and less


serious news. Front covers in the weeks following the relaunch featured Vladimir Putin, Keir Starmer and Oasis.


KATHY DEWITT / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28