Tiy Baners
| File:Tiybaners.png Tiy Baners' general logo | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Tiy Baners AK (50%) Asa Group (25%) Other investors (25%) |
| Editor | Hektor Rudbrusder |
| Founded | 1919 as Tiy Baners - Papeer fis Jesler Nazonalesens |
| Political alignment | Right |
| Language | Vyvlander Helish Geadish (weekly) |
| Headquarters | Jesel, Vyvland |
| Circulation | 920,000 |
| Website | http://www.tiybaners.vy |
Tiy Baners (Vyvlander pronunciation: /tiʏ baneɾʂ/, English: Two Flags) is Vyvland's biggest-circulating newspaper, published daily in Jesel. The paper is by far the largest tabloid paper in Vyvland, with over double the number of sales of its nearest competitor, Viy. The paper is conservative and right-wing, weakly aligning with the National Party, although it is officially independent at elections. Although Tiy Baners' paper format circulates widely, its online presence is generally inferior to those of other newspapers, especially broadsheets such as Entwerd. The paper's editor has been Hektor Rudbrusder since 1999, who has guided the paper on a more apolitical course and severed many links with right-wing political movements. Tiy Baners publishes a daily edition in Helish (as Twee Banieren) and a weekly Geadish paper (as Swa TBA), distributed in Helland and southern Nevel respectively.
Tiy Baners was first published as a local newspaper affiliated with the Nationalist Movement in Jesel. After the Vyvlander Civil War, the credibility this political affiliation gained allowed Tiy Baners to fill many of the gaps left by other newspapers which had been shut down or ceased circulating in South Vyvland. It was the best-circulating newspaper through almost all of South Vyvland's history, although until the 1970s, its content was heavily censored. Tiy Baners moved away from propaganda and traditional reporting into a more tabloid-style newspaper from the late 1960s onwards, after Erman Sanker's relaxation of censorship laws. Post-reunification, the paper has greatly increased its market share in the former North of the country, although it still remains a predominantly southern-orientated newspaper. In 1996, a Helish language edition of the paper was launched, which has proven successful, and has complemented the longstanding weekly Geadish edition. The paper was restructured in 1999, with the Iglesian Asa Group taking a 25% stake and a new editor being installed. Since then, many of its more controversial ties have been removed; the paper now describes itself as politically independent.
The paper has been criticised for its connections with far-right and extremist political groups and sentiments, especially its founding as an organ of the now-disgraced Nationalist Movement, the South's former ruling party. In addition, the paper has received criticism for its nationalist and misogynist slants; it publishes weekly pages of scantily-clad women. A few of the stories published by the newspaper have turned out to be complete fabrications, occasionally resulting in heavy fines, such as a payment of µ500,000 (circa $1,500,000) in damages to a woman in 2007 after the paper claimed she had operated a nationwide child pornography ring, which resulted in a mob torching her house in Fomiy. The paper also has a tradition of investigating the private lives and histories of politicians prior to elections; it has in the past broken stories on ex-President Erik Menjreng running over a cat, ex-Prime Minister Minke Selengborg's grandfather murdering prostitutes, and Robert Ujson's use of a prostitute while away at a summit in Ainin. All three went on to lose their respective upcoming elections, the latter primarily due to the allegations (which later turned out to be untrue).