Type | Daily regional newspaper |
---|---|
Owner(s) | Midland News Association |
Editor | Martin Wright |
Founded | 1874 |
Headquarters | 51–53 Queen Street, Wolverhampton |
Circulation | 11,864(as of 2023) [1] |
Sister newspapers | Shropshire Star |
Website | expressandstar.com |
The Express & Star is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire.
Currently edited by Martin Wright, the Express & Star publishes six editions a week between Monday and Saturday. In 2007 the newspaper had a daily circulation of 174,989 [2] by June 2014 it was 73,473, [3] then 55,373 in 2016, 38,690 in 2019 [4] and by 2021 was 19,683. [5]
In 2022 figures from JICREG (Joint industry Currency for Regional Media Research) show that 17,973 papers are printed each day and there are 51,403 readers. Online expressandstar.com has 1.64 million monthly unique users with 8.9 million monthly page views.[ citation needed ]
The Express & Star features a mixture of regional and national news and has a strong following for its sports coverage of association football, particularly local teams Wolverhampton Wanderers, Walsall, and West Bromwich Albion.
The Express & Star is one of the few independent newspapers still operating in the UK, having been under the continuous ownership of the Graham family almost since its inception. It is owned by the Midland News Association (MNA), which also owns the Shropshire Star newspaper.
In January 2013, Adrian Faber announced his decision to step down as editor after 11 years at the Express & Star. He was replaced by Shropshire Star editor Keith Harrison in April 2013, who remained at the helm until leaving the newspaper late in 2018.[ citation needed ]
Harrison was replaced by Shropshire Star editor Martin Wright, who became Midland News Association editor-in-chief, editing both the Express & Star and Shropshire Star.[ citation needed ]
The origins of the Express & Star lie in the Evening Star – a liberal newspaper founded in Wolverhampton in 1880 as a rival to the existing conservative Evening Express, itself founded in 1874. In 1882 the Star was bought by wealthy Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, encouraged by his friend and fellow Dunfermline-born liberal (and by then prominent Wolverhampton councillor) Thomas Graham.
The combination of Carnegie's finance and Graham's organisational ability saw the paper flourish and within two years the Star had taken over the Express under the editorship of another Dunfermline native, editor Andrew Meikle. The combined newspaper adopted its current name in 1889.
Carnegie severed his links with the paper and its parent company the Midland News Association in 1902, leaving Graham in full control until his death in 1909. The following decades saw a steady expansion under Graham's descendants, with the paper's influence spreading out from its native Wolverhampton to cover the entire Black Country. An office in Birmingham was opened and later closed.
The 21st century saw a drop in circulation and advertising revenues, in common with most other newspapers, leading to the company shedding around 50 jobs through a voluntary redundancy scheme in April 2006, with further cuts announced in January 2007. Printing plants in West Bromwich, Wolverhampton and Ketley, Telford were closed in 2009, 2011 and 2021. The Express & Star is printed by Newsquest at their Deeside office.[ citation needed ]
In April 2011 the Express & Star introduced paid-for access to selected online content – including photo galleries, football match analysis and traffic and travel – under the banner of Express & Star 24. A print, online and smartphone package was offered for £2.34 a week, which included delivery of the newspaper. However, the paywall was scrapped after just nine months. [6] The digital edition of the Express & Star was re-launched in 2021 and allows readers to access news, sport and analysis on their mobile or tablet.
In September 2023, the paper was sold by the family-owned Claverley Group to National World. [7]
The Express & Star publishes breaking news and sport content online each day, in addition to regular blogs and unique video content. Its website expressandstar.com was launched in 1997. As of 2012 it was the fastest growing website among the leading regional publishers. [8] [ needs update ]
August 2012 saw the website re-launched in a responsive web design alongside its sister title shropshirestar.com – believed to be the first of any other regional newspaper websites in the UK. [9]
An Express & Star App for iPad and iPhone was launched in January 2012, using page-turning technology to mimic the look and feel of the actual newspaper. Further apps for Android and Kindle Fire were released in February 2013.
The website also offers free access to the weekly Chronicle series.
On 20 March 2012 Express & Star former editor Adrian Faber appeared as a witness at the Leveson Inquiry into Press standards. [10] He told the inquiry that regional newspapers are different from national titles, relying far more on trust. Faber said the Express & Star had never hacked a mobile phone, never paid a public official for a story and saw trust as integral to its role. [11]
The Express & Star was awarded Midland Newspaper of the Year in 2012 by the Midlands Media Awards. [12]
The Express & Star was awarded Daily/Sunday newspaper of the year (above 25,000) at the Regional Press Awards for 2013. [13]
The history of British newspapers begins in the 17th century with the emergence of regular publications covering news and gossip. The relaxation of government censorship in the late 17th century led to a rise in publications, which in turn led to an increase in regulation throughout the 18th century. The Times began publication in 1785 and became the leading newspaper of the early 19th century, before the lifting of taxes on newspapers and technological innovations led to a boom in newspaper publishing in the late 19th century. Mass education and increasing affluence led to new papers such as the Daily Mail emerging at the end of the 19th century, aimed at lower middle-class readers.
Telford is a town in Shropshire, England. It is the administrative centre of Telford and Wrekin borough, a unitary authority which covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding settlements. The town is close to the county's eastern boundary, and near the River Severn.
The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. The network has 33 stops with a total of 14 miles (23 km) of track; it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury, on a mixture of former railway lines and urban on-street running. The system is owned by the public body Transport for West Midlands, and operated by Midland Metro Limited, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority.
BBC Midlands is the BBC English Region producing local radio and web content for the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and parts of Gloucestershire. Although the region has been unofficially called BBC West Midlands since BBC East Midlands became a separate region in 1991, it retains the BBC Midlands name and brand, with its history dating from 1927, for public use.
The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute founded in 1827 and the 19th-century growth of the Wolverhampton Free Library (1870), which developed technical, scientific, commercial and general classes. This merged in 1969 with the Municipal School of Art, originally founded in 1851, to form the Wolverhampton Polytechnic.
The Coventry Telegraph is a local English tabloid newspaper. It was founded as The Midland Daily Telegraph in 1891 by William Isaac Iliffe, and was Coventry's first daily newspaper. Sold for half a penny, it was a four-page broadsheet newspaper. It changed its name to the Coventry Evening Telegraph on 17 November 1941. On 2 October 2006, the Telegraph simply became the Coventry Telegraph, reflecting its switch to a morning publication.
Finchfield is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is located south-west of the city centre, within the Tettenhall Wightwick Ward between the Merry Hill and Tettenhall Regis Wards of Wolverhampton City Council. Many of the streets have arboreal/plant related names.
Wolverhampton station is a railway station in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England on the Birmingham Loop of the West Coast Main Line. It is served by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains services, and was historically known as Wolverhampton High Level. It is also a West Midlands Metro tram stop.
The Shropshire Star is reputedly the twelfth biggest-selling regional newspaper in the UK. It is based at Grosvenor House, Telford where it covers the whole of Shropshire plus parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Mid Wales. It is printed by Newsquest at their Deeside office.
Tipton Town Football Club is a football club based in Tipton, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the West Midlands (Regional) League Division One and play at the Tipton Sports Academy.
Holden's Brewery is a family-run English regional brewery. It was founded in 1915 at the Park Inn in Woodsetton, Dudley, in the West Midlands.
The Nottingham Post is a left wing English tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
The Bolton News – formerly the Bolton Evening News – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and online every day, it is part of the Newsquest media group, a subsidiary of the U.S media giant Gannett Inc. The current editor is Richard Duggan, who also oversees other titles in the North West of England.
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the Daily Mail, was first published in 1896.
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. Located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Birmingham, the population in 2021 was 263,700.
A.F.C. Wulfrunians is a football club based in Castlecroft, Wolverhampton, England. They are currently members of the Midland League Premier Division and play at the Castlecroft Stadium.
The Midland News Association is an England-based newspaper publishing company. Established in 1874, the Midland News Association is still one of Britain's largest independent media agencies. It publishes one of the UK's biggest-selling regional daily newspapers, the Express & Star, and its sister title, the Shropshire Star, as well as eight weekly titles and the monthly The Farmer newspaper and Shropshire Magazine.
The Guernsey Press and Star, more commonly known as the Guernsey Press, is the only daily newspaper published in Guernsey.
The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012. The Inquiry published the Leveson Report in November 2012, which reviewed the general culture and ethics of the British media, and made recommendations for a new, independent body to replace the existing Press Complaints Commission, which would have to be recognised by the state through new laws. Prime Minister David Cameron, under whose direction the inquiry had been established, said that he welcomed many of the findings, but declined to enact the requisite legislation. Part 2 of the inquiry was to be delayed until after criminal prosecutions regarding events at the News of the World, but the Conservative Party's 2017 manifesto stated that the second part of the inquiry would be dropped entirely, and this was confirmed by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock in a statement to the House of Commons on 1 March 2018.
Gorsebrook is an historic area of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, located alongside the Stafford Road between the areas of Dunstall, Oxley and Bushbury.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)