Newhaven Tribune/About

The Newhaven Mercury is a center-left newspaper dealing with local, national, and international news. The editor is K.S. Shamilov and the Mercury is published in his house, 1 Forest Street, Old Port.

Early years
The Mercury was set up in 1995 by William Johnston. Johnston was only an amateur journalist and therefore was unable to maintain a readership of above 50, although the paper became fairly well known. Johnston continued to work as a teacher and the Mercury remained only a hobby.

Purchase by Shamilov
In 2001, K.S. Shamilov bought the paper for the small sum of $800. He immediately began a advertising campaign, which attracted several hundred more readers. He also expanded the newspaper from a single A4 double sided sheet published weekly (due to Johnston's lack of spare time) to four pages daily, and employed four professional journalists.

Layout
The format of the Mercury is compact.

The subject of each page is usually as follows: Shamilov is hoping soon to expand the newspaper.
 * 1) Front page; local news.
 * 2) Page 2; story carried over from front page, national news
 * 3) Page 3; story carried over from front page or page two, international news
 * 4) Back page; editorial or other comment, letters to the editor, advertisements for 'local businesses'

There is also a weekly version of the Mercury, known as the Weekly Mercury. It is advertised as 'the cream of the weekly news'.