Media: How 'Today' won a new tomorrow: Edward Welsh discovers how Martin Dunn survived the 'poisoned chalice'

IN 10 months, Martin Dunn has experienced the depths and the heights as a national newspaper editor. Last December the circulation of Today under his stewardship reached the lowest point in its six-year history after losing almost a third of its readers since autumn 1989. Yet this month, the tabloid recorded its seventh consecutive month of rising sales and is now selling a quarter more copies a day than at the start of the year.

The turnaround is particularly remarkable because it has been achieved while the tabloid market has contracted, and with minimal investment. But the newspaper's success has been accomplished only after its owner, Rupert Murdoch, had to admit defeat in his attempt to develop a rival to the Daily Mail and Daily Express.

When Mr Dunn became Today's editor in April 1991, the newspaper was in a mess. One former News International executive described the job offer as a 'poisoned chalice'. The paper had just moved to Wapping and was experiencing technical problems that lost thousands of copies a night. Almost a third of its staff had been made redundant. There were rumours that the title would be closed or that Mr Dunn had been brought in to prepare Today for a merger with the Sun, where he had been deputy editor. Circulation was down to 478,303 from its high of 614,332 in September 1989.

Mr Dunn's first task was to raise morale among his journalists. 'I knew no one there,' he says. 'The atmosphere was completely unsettled. It took a great deal of convincing to make people believe that we were there for the long run.'

He also dumped many elements introduced by his predecessor, David Montgomery. Out went Hello-style features and off- beat front page leads. They were replaced by a greater emphasis on news and more restrained front pages. But sales continued to slide. In despair, Mr Dunn watched circulation drop to 431,000 by Christmas. 'It was an absolute nightmare,' he says. 'We felt we were producing a great paper, but we weren't getting the readers.'

In early January, Mr Dunn and Mr Murdoch met to discuss the future of the newspaper. Mr Murdoch decided that Today was no longer to compete head- on with the Daily Express and Daily Mail. Instead, it was to seek a new niche somewhere below the Express and the Mail and above the Sun and the Mirror. 'He helped me to clarify what the paper should be; a popular, modern version of the Mail and Express and a more aspirational version of the mass market tabloids,' Mr Dunn says.

Newspapers in distress are often beguiled by a 'gap in the market', most of which prove imaginary. However, Mr Murdoch's hunch seems to be working. In August Today was selling 551,000 copies a day, 100,000 more than in January, and the September figures, due out next week, are expected to show a further significant increase.

'After that meeting, we have not looked back,' says Mr Dunn, 'For the first time in its history, Today gave up chasing the Mail and we have found a different market out there which no one has really serviced.'

The Daily Mail has noticed the difference but no longer sees Today as a threat. 'The newspaper is doing a lot better, that's undeniable,' concedes Mike Newman, circulation director for Mail Newspapers. 'And it's having no effect on the Daily Mail whatsoever.'

Mr Dunn believes he is gaining new readers from the Mirror and some from the Express. But others in the industry think he is also gaining sales at the expense of Today's stablemate, the Sun.

Today's circulation has been further helped during the summer by coverage of the marital problems of the Royal Family, which has boosted most tabloids' sales in the short term, and by its Rich III bingo-type promotion. Cards for the game were inserted in the magazine of the News of the World, its sister Sunday tabloid, which has more than eight times as many readers.

Resources, however, remain scarce. It operates with about two thirds of the staff of most of its competitors and there has been no television advertising.

Although it was Mr Murdoch who conceived the strategy, Mr Dunn earns praise for carrying it out. Andrew Knight, executive chairman of News International, is said to be keen to see him take over from Kelvin MacKenzie as editor at the Sun.

Within the newspaper itself he is popular, especially for introducing an atmosphere of stability. 'He's clever, funny and approachable,' says one Today journalist. 'The place is very different. Before it was frantic, up and down. Now it's much more calm.'

Mr Dunn, 37 and unmarried, is in the office from 7am to 10pm, usually six days a week, and rarely goes out for lunch. 'I think of nothing else but the paper,' he says.

Roy Greenslade, former editor of the Mirror and a consultant editor at Today for three months last year, says: 'He has a ruthless streak, but not when it comes to handling people. He has shown you don't have to be a brute in order to run a newspaper successfully.'