Sad news that Tribune is in financial trouble.

Editor, Chris McLaughlin, makes the point that with capitalist economics in crisis, Tribune has a crucial role to play in advancing an alternative philosophy and putting forward the point of view of the ordinary working person, who may end up carrying the can for the mistakes of policymakers and bankers.

Chris needs £200k. And here's the problem. Tribune is no different to so many traditional media vehicles. It's platform (ie paper pages) and distribution model (ie selling mags in shops and in the post) is starting to come under pressure from changing audience habits and cheaper technology for publishing and distributing.

I wish Chris well in his search for funds but there are other opportunities and newer media emerging who can serve their audience in a more interactive form that, like in our case at Labourhome, are attracting the interest of traditional publishers.