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December 30, 2016updated 03 Jan 2017 3:53pm

Post news? Coventry Observer fills entire edition with listicles

By Dominic Ponsford

This week’s Coventry Observer has dispensed with news and instead filled the entire paper with listicles.

The unusual move received a cool welcome from one reader of Bullivant Media’s free weekly who said: “This is embarrassing. It’s almost like it’s satire – but it’s not.”

The title said in a statement: “The Coventry Observer continued to consistently deliver big exclusives throughout 2016, campaigns and journalism which challenged authority and others. This was recognised on several occasions by national and regional awards judges both in 2015 and 2016. We took a different ‘lifestyle’ approach for one edition in the holiday period.

 “Many readers have welcomed our scrutinising stories and coverage of major issues often ignored by rival media,  even though this appears to have put some noses out of joint.”

The list of lists starts with a local flavour: the best places to visit in the Midlands in 2017, set out over four pages.

It then drifts into the generic (unless Galileo is secretly from Coventry), with:

  • A list of the greatest inventors
  • The ten safest countries in the world
  • The ten most dangerous countries in the world
  • New words of 2016
  • Top baby names
  • The top ten active volcanoes
  • And the most haunted places in England
  • The highest grossing films
  • Top ten things discovered on Google Earth.

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