Newsletter

The Newsletter isn’t a particularly bad newspaper, but then again it isn’t a particularly great newspaper. The Newsletter would be something in the same vain as the Irish News, but with drastically different target audiences. My Dad gets this paper for our neighbour and as we are such lovely people, we usually read it before we drop it down to her. It’s like a family tradition which shouldn’t happen… Like giving off about our neighbours or failing to accept that Joey’s spin-​off from Friends was actually rubbish.
The paper, as you would expect focuses primarily on the political side of the news, rather than the old Cheryl Cole side of it. And it also has a pretty large farming section, all of which I skip out entirely because it has absolutely no benefit to me.
The paper i dont think will ever be somebody’s paper of choice as quite often it just amounts to a bit rubbish. But as far as some reading material on your lunchtime break goes, its not too shabby.

Probably my third favourite of the three Belfast dailies, but the Newsletter is by no means a bad paper, there’s just nothing about that lights me on fire. As someone else noted, the style is very much old-​school and traditional, and for me that makes it a little boring. There aren’t too many great columnists and editorials, which is surprising, since to my mind anyway, great editorial comment is what separates newspapers from constantly updated online news sources.
It does have a slightly unionist slant, but it’s not as explicit as it once was. It covers the Twelfth quite heavily, but apart from that, it only has a very slight political leaning, so don’t let that influence you really.

The Newsletter has been around for a long time, but in terms of ranking quality from bottom to top, it would be on the bottom shelf. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad read; it is the East Belfast equivalent of The Sun in many respects and satisfies its core audience (working class Unionist Protestants) very well. It knows what it’s about and who it’s going after, although given its’ prestigious history, the journalist in me would love if it was rebranded to become the Northern Irish equivalent of The Times instead of the red tops, but nothing you can do there.

The Belfast News Letter is the oldest published news paper still in print today. It was the first paper in the UK to publish the US declaration of independence, which it managed to get a hold of before the British government had even heard of it (ah random general knowledge, don’t you just love it). It’s headquarters are situated just behind the City Hall in the very modern and stylish metro building. What I like about the New Letter is it’s sports section which does cover quite a lot of local football amongst other sports in a lot more detail than some of the other local papers. It has a reputation, like many things in Belfast of being geared towards the Unionist community, but at one stage, in it’s early past it was considered the Republican paper, so who knows!

Is there such a thing as a local newspaper for middle aged people? If so, then the Newsletter is the perfect example. It’s produced every day in Belfast and the features and articles are written very much in the traditional slightly formal style of journalism.
The Newsletter covers politics, current affairs, business news, farming and sports, so all areas of Northern Ireland life are covered and reported on. This means that it’s a great way for both visitors and ill informed locals to bring themselves up to speed with what’s going on in and around Belfast.
For some reason known only to themselves, people over 60 are fascinated by death notices which are published every day in the Newsletter. Do they like to see who was most popular before they passed on? Who knows.
I like the Newsletter for its straight forward reporting of events here and the no nonsense style of writing which makes it easy for even a political doofus like me to understand what’s going on and who represents each political party.
I also enjoy the weekly property feature which satisfies my inner nosey parker as you get to see the interior of someone’s house. Politics and moseying, what a great combination.