The News Letter
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| The Belfast Newsletter | |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Tabloid |
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| Owner | Johnston Publishing (NI) |
| Editor | Darwin Templeton |
| Founded | 1737 |
| Political allegiance | Unionism |
| Headquarters | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
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| Website: www.newsletter.co.uk | |
The News Letter is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published Monday to Saturday. It is the oldest English language general daily newspaper still in publication in the world, having first been printed in 1737.[1][2]
The newspaper's editorial stance and readership, while originally Republican,[3] is strongly unionist. Its primary competitors are the Belfast Telegraph (which is moderately unionist in outlook) and the Irish News which adopts a largely Irish nationalist perspective.[citation needed]
The News Letter has changed hands several times since the mid-1990s and since 2005 is owned by the Johnston Press holding company Johnston Publishing (NI)
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[edit] Title
The full legal title of the newspaper is the "Belfast News Letter" though the word Belfast does not appear on the masthead any more.
[edit] History
Founded in 1737, the News Letter was printed in Joy's Entry in Belfast. The Joys were a family of Huguenot descent who added much to eighteenth-century Belfast, noted for their compiling materials for its history. Francis Joy, the father of Henry and Robert, had come to Belfast early in the century from the County Antrim village of Killead. In Belfast he married the daughter of the town sovereign, and set up a practice as an attorney. In 1737, he obtained a small printing-press which was in settlement of a debt, and used it to publish the town’s first newspaper at the sign of ‘The Peacock’ in Bridge Street. The family later bought a paper mill in Ballymena, and were able to produce enough paper not only for their own publication but for the whole Province of Ulster.[4][5]
Originally published three times weekly, it became daily in 1855. The title is now located in the Boucher Road industrial estate in the south of Belfast.
According to the newspaper's owners:
| “ | The News Letter [can claim] the first genuine "world exclusive". The boat carrying the first copy to leave America of the Declaration of Independence, and bound for London, hit stormy waters off the north coast of Ireland. The boat sought refuge in Londonderry port and arrangements were made for the declaration to be sent on horseback to Belfast, where it would be met by another ship for delivery to King George III.
Somehow, and in the best traditions of revelatory journalism, the News Letter editor of the day gained access to the priceless document and duly published it on the front page of the August 23, 1776 edition. Today there is a constant demand for copies of that famous and historical front page.[6] |
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—The Belfast Newsletter |
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Before the partition of Ireland in 1922, the Newsletter was distributed island-wide. Since then it has become a northern newspaper specifically with a predominantly unionist political outlook.
[edit] Politics
The News Letter was historically linked with Republicans,[7] then becoming a Unionist title. Editor Geoff Martin was succeeded in 2003 by Nigel Wareing, formerly of the Guardian Media Group.[citation needed]
[edit] Other Publications
The paper publishes several weekly and infrequent supplements, such as Farming Life and Catwalk. It also prints many titles for other publishers including Trinity Mirror and Guardian Media Group. It also prints the Ulster-Scots Agency publication, The Ulster-Scot.
[edit] Circulation
Circulation currently stands at approximately 29,000, but this does not include the Farming Life supplement. When Farming Life is sold with the News Letter on Wednesdays and Saturdays circulation peaks at around 40,000 and is read across the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Research guide: Irish news & newspapers, Boston College, 13 December 2004, accessed 25 September 2006
- ^ Ruth Johnston, Your place and mine: Belfast News Letter, BBC, accessed 25 September 2006
- ^ A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen, A. T. Q. Stewart, The Blackstaff Press, 1998, ISBN 0 85640 642 2 pg. 134-164
- ^ The Life and Times of Mary Ann McCracken, 1770-1866: a Belfast Panorama, Mary McNeill, The Blackstaff Press, rpt 1988
- ^ A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen, A. T. Q. Stewart, The Blackstaff Press, 1998, ISBN 0 85640 642 2
- ^ The history of the News Letter, Belfast Today, accessed 25 September 2006
- ^ A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen, A. T. Q. Stewart, The Blackstaff Press, 1998, ISBN 0 85640 642 2 pg. 134-164
[edit] External links
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