The Herald (Plymouth)

The Herald is Local World's Plymouth-based newspaper, serving Plymouth and the surrounding communities of West Devon, South East Cornwall and parts of the South Hams. The editor is Paul Burton, the deputy editor is Clare Jardine, the head of news is Neil Shaw and the sports editor is Andy Phillips.

Readership and website

The paid-for newspaper has an ABC circulation of 16,350 (July-Dec 2016) and is owned by Local World. Its sister titles include the Express & Echo in Exeter, the Herald Express in Torquay, the Leicester Mercury and the Western Morning News.

Its website at www.plymouthherald.co.uk has more than six million page views a month from 1,000,000 unique visitors.

The Herald is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday, and has a single edition covering Plymouth, south east Cornwall and south and west Devon. It carries a jobs supplement every Wednesday, a homes supplement every Thursday and an entertainment supplement every Friday, with extra pages of business printed on a Wednesday.

The Herald extensively reports on Plymouth's sports teams including Plymouth Argyle F.C. (Football League Two), Plymouth Albion R.F.C. (National Division One), Plymouth Titans (Rugby League Conference), Plymouth Admirals (British American Football League), Plymouth Raiders (British Basketball League) and the Plymouth Devils (Premier League speedway). The sports editor is Andy Phillips and the Argyle Chief Reporter is Chris Errington.

The Herald's business editor is William Telford, as of 2012.

History

The history of the Herald stretches back to 2pm on Monday 22 April 1895 when the Western Evening Herald was launched as Plymouth's first evening newspaper. Various other newspapers had come and gone in Plymouth in the preceding 100 years. The WEH was published by the owners of the Western Daily Mercury. It was then bought by Sir Leicester Harmsworth in 1921 — a year after he bought the Western Morning News company — and was renamed The Evening Herald and Western Evening News on 17 September 1923. On 24 May 1924, the name was changed again to the Western Evening Herald and Western Evening News.

After changing format to tabloid in 1987, the title changed again to the Evening Herald, becoming simply The Herald in October 2006 when its print deadline shifted from midmorning (between 9am and 11am) to 1am to accommodate the 120-mile distribution journey to Plymouth after printing was transferred to Weymouth in Dorset.

Alan Clark, the Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton from 1974 to 1992, dismissed the people of Plymouth as "believing everything they read in the Herald".^[1]

In 2012, Local World acquired owner Northcliffe Media from Daily Mail and General Trust.^[2]

References

External links

• Official website
• Plymouth Argyle section
• Archive of stories related to The Herald at Hold the Front Page