The Northern Echo
 ANorthern Echofront page from 2007 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact(tabloid) |
| Owner(s) | Newsquest |
| Founder(s) | John Hyslop Belland thePease family |
| Editor | Gavin Foster |
| Founded | 1870 |
| Political alignment | Independent |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Darlington, County Durham |
| Circulation | 8,701 (as of 2023)[1] |
| Sister newspapers | Darlington & Stockton Times The Advertiser |
| ISSN | 2043-0442 |
| Website | thenorthernecho |
The Northern Echois a regional daily morningnewspaperbased in the town ofDarlingtonin North East England, serving mainly southernCounty Durhamand northernYorkshire.The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its then-editor claimed that it was one of the most famous provincial newspapers in the United Kingdom.[2]Its first edition was published on 1 January 1870.
Its second editor wasW. T. Stead,the early pioneer of Britishinvestigative journalism,who earned the paper accolades from the leadingLiberalsof the day, seeing it applauded as "the best paper in Europe."Harold Evans,one of the great campaigning journalists of all time, was editor ofThe Northern Echoin the 1960s and argued the case for cervical smear tests for women. Evans agreed with Stead that reporting was "a very good way of attacking the devil".[3]
History
[edit]The Northern Echowas started byJohn Hyslop Bellwith the backing of thePease family,largely to counter the conservative outpourings of rival newspapers, theDarlington & Stockton Timesand theDarlington Mercury.[4]The paper enjoyed early success under its second editor,W. T. Stead,an early pioneer ofinvestigative journalism,who brought the paper international notoriety during theBulgarian Atrocitiesagitation in 1876. Leading Liberals such asGladstoneandJoseph Chamberlainbecame great admirers, and the historianE. A. Freemanwent so far as to declare theNorthern Echo,as "the best paper in Europe."[5]
However, the loss of Stead to thePall Mall Gazettein 1880 and the resignation of founder Bell in 1889 took a heavy toll on theEchoand its sales slumped to a critical low for decades after. The collapse of the Pease dynasty and increased competition from rival newspapers added to theEcho'stroubles and, by the time it limped into the twentieth century, led byJohn Marshall,it was on the verge of bankruptcy.[4]The echo employed the editor's daughterEmilie Marshalland she would become a leading journalist after her father was sacked.[6]
The paper was saved from ruin in 1903, when it was acquired by the North of England Newspaper Company, a group owned by chocolatiersRowntree.An acquisition by Westminster Press (also known as the Starmer Group) in 1921 secured theEcho'sfuture.[4]
In 1936Edward Pickeringbegun his apprenticeship at theEcho,eventually rising to the position of district reporter and sub-editor, before leaving to sub-edit theDaily Mirror.[7]He eventually became editor of theDaily Expressbefore rising to the position of executive vice-chairman atNews International.[7]
For five yearsHarold Evans(former deputy editor of theManchester Evening News) was editor of the paper, which was a time he "loved".[8]One of his campaigns resulted in a national programme for the detection ofcervical cancer.He also campaigned against air pollution on Teesside and for the floodlighting of Durham Cathedral. When Evans left theEchoin 1967, he moved to London as editor ofThe Sunday Times.Evans has said of his time at the Echo:
It has 99,000 circulation when I went there; when I left it had 114,000. It spread over a very large area; two English counties and a couple of cities. It was a morning paper competing against nine national dailies produced in London and Manchester, three regional morning [papers] and two or three evening [papers], so [it had] intense competition in the North East of England, where most of the readers were coal miners and industrial workers, but in the south a belt of farmers and gentry, so it was a fascinating social market to reach. I took from my American experience a zest for investigative journalism, and campaigned about air pollution and many other things, the most interesting one in a way was that I campaigned for an inquiry into a man who had been hanged for a murder he didn't do, the famousJohn Christiecase... After a year of campaigning from the North East of England I got a national inquiry into the Evans hanging.[8]
Recent events
[edit]Today,The Northern Echois owned byNewsquest(Yorkshire and North East) Ltd. According to theAudit Bureau of Circulationsduring the second half of 2010,The Northern Echosold on average approximately 42,000 copies daily.[9]It has four editions covering Darlington, county Durham, North Yorkshire andTeesside.[10]In June 2008, the newspaper announced it would reduce the number of editions to two.[11]
Although traditionally abroadsheet,since 26 February 2007 the newspaper has been published in atabloidformat.[12]The newspaper transformed itself from a broadsheet to a tabloid in a one-year transition process, beginning with Saturday editions on 14 January 2006.[13][14]
The Northern Echohas a number of sister publications, including the weeklyDarlington & Stockton Timesand the freeAdvertiserseries.
In recent years, the web edition has used a paywall - allowing a limited number of articles to be viewed free.
Editors
[edit] |
- John Copleston: editor 1870–71
- William Thomas Stead:editor 1871–80
- John Marshall (livedc.1856–c.1903)
- Reggie Gray
- Mark Barrington-Ward:editor 1960–61[15]
- Sir Harold Evans:editor 1963–67
- Don Evans
- Allan Prosser 1982-89
- Peter Sands 1989-93
- David Flintham (now David Kernek) 1993-96
- Andrew Smith 1997-99
- Peter Barron 1999–2016
- Andy Richardson 2016–2018
- Hannah Chapman 2018–2020[16]
- Karl Holbrook2020–2022[17]
- Gavin Foster 2022-[18]
References
[edit]- ^Darlington -The Northern Echo,Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK),22 February 2024,archivedfrom the original on 3 December 2023,retrieved2 March2024
- ^Greenslade, Roy (12 February 2007)."Northern Echo changes shape after 137 years".The Guardian.London.Archivedfrom the original on 10 May 2017.Retrieved16 December2016.
- ^Chalmers, Robert (13 June 2010)."Harold Evans: 'All I tried to do was shed a little light'".The Independent.London.Archivedfrom the original on 18 June 2022.
- ^abcMulpetre, Owen (2012)."W.T. Stead & the Northern Echo".W.T. Stead Resource Site.Archivedfrom the original on 7 June 2007.Retrieved29 October2015.
- ^W.T. Stead, The M.P. for Russia: Reminiscences & Correspondence of MadameOlga Novikoff,(1909) vol. I, p. 336
- ^"Peacocke [née Marshall], Emilie Hawkes (1882–1964), journalist".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48470.Retrieved15 September2020.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^abBrian MacArthur, 'Pickering, Sir Edward Davies (1912–2003)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, January 2007; online edn, September 2010accessed 24 August 2011
- ^abSwaim, Don (18 January 1984)."Harold Evans interview with Don Swaim".Archived from the original on 9 May 2016.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^"Newspaper Reports".nsdatabase.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 30 September 2011.Retrieved24 August2011.
- ^"The Northern Echo: Key Facts"(PDF).2.newsquest.co.uk.Archived(PDF)from the original on 26 February 2022.Retrieved11 August2021.
- ^"Morning newspaper loses three editions in production shake-up".Hold The Front Page. 26 June 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 1 July 2008.Retrieved26 June2008.
- ^"Northern Echo ditches broadsheet and turns compact".Press Gazette.23 February 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 27 September 2007.Retrieved28 July2007.
- ^ "The compact revolution".The Northern Echo. 14 January 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 8 October 2007.Retrieved24 July2007.
- ^ Lagan, Sarah (13 January 2006)."Northern Echo turns tabloid".Press Gazette.Archived fromthe originalon 27 September 2007.Retrieved28 July2007.
- ^Barrington-Ward, Mark(2010).Forty Years of Oxford Planning: What has it achieved, and what next?.Oxford:Oxford Civic Society.p. author's biography on rear cover.
- ^Chapman, Hannah (3 August 2018). "New Editor at the helm of D&S Times".Darlington & Stockton Times.No. 31–2018. p. 4.ISSN2516-5348.
- ^Sharman, David."Bolton News and Lancashire Telegraph editor moves to Northern Echo - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage".HoldtheFrontPage.Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2020.Retrieved3 September2020.
- ^Sharman, David."Regional editor poached to run rival flagship daily - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage".HoldtheFrontPage.Archivedfrom the original on 9 August 2022.Retrieved23 February2022.