Manchester Evening News

Last updated

Manchester Evening News
ManchesterEveningNewscover.jpg
Manchester Evening News front page on 29 December 2017
Type Daily newspaper
FormatTabloid
Owner(s) Reach plc
EditorSarah Lester [1]
Founded1868;156 years ago (1868)
Political alignment Labour
Headquarters Chadderton, Greater Manchester, England
Circulation 6,519(as of 2024) [2]
ISSN 0962-2276
OCLC number 500150526
Website www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Manchester Evening News (MEN) is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the MEN on Sunday, was launched in February 2019. [3] The newspaper is owned by Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror), [2] one of Britain's largest newspaper publishing groups.

Contents

Since adopting a 'digital-first' strategy in 2014, the MEN has experienced significant online growth, despite its average print daily circulation for the first half of 2021 falling to 22,107. In the 2018 British Regional Press Awards, it was named Newspaper of the Year and Website of the Year.

History

Formation and The Guardian ownership

The Manchester Evening News was first published on 10 October 1868 by Mitchell Henry as part of his parliamentary election campaign, its first issue four pages long and costing a halfpenny. [4] The newspaper was run from a small office on Brown Street, with approximately a dozen staff. [5] Upon the newspaper's launch, Henry said: "In putting ourselves into print, we have no apology to offer, but the assurance of an honest aim to serve the public interest." [5] Henry's quote is displayed on the entrance wall to the newspaper's modern offices. [5]

With his Parliamentary bid unsuccessful, Henry lost interest in the business, selling the publication to John Edward Taylor Jr., the son of newspaper proprietor John Edward Taylor, founder of the Manchester Guardian (now The Guardian ). The newspaper became the evening counterpart and sister title to The Manchester Guardian and the two titles began sharing an office, located on Cross Street, from 1879. [6] Taylor brought his brother-in-law Peter Allen in as a partner in the Manchester Evening News and, after Taylor's death in 1907, the Guardian was sold to its editor C. P. Scott while the Evening News passed into the hands of the Allen family. In 1924, C. P. Scott's son John Russell Scott reunited the papers, buying out the Manchester Evening News and forming The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd, which in turn later became the Guardian Media Group (GMG). [7]

The former offices at Spinningfield Manchester Evening News.jpg
The former offices at Spinningfield

In 1936, John Russell Scott formed the Scott Trust in order to protect the company from death duties, following the deaths of his father and younger brother Ted in close succession. [7] The contents of the original deeds were not disclosed by the company, but a copy obtained by The Independent revealed the terms compelled trustees to "use their best endeavours to procure that the [...] Manchester Guardian and Manchester Evening News [...] shall be carried on as nearly as may be upon the same principles as they have heretofore." [8] [nb 1]

During the editorship of William Haley (who later became the Director-General of the BBC and subsequently the editor of The Times ) in the 1930s, the newspaper's circulation grew to over 200,000. [6] By 1939 the publication was the largest provincial evening newspaper in the country. [10] The newspaper was a cash cow for its parent company and kept its stablemate The Manchester Guardian afloat. The financial success of the Manchester Evening News was reflected in Haley's salary, which was even greater than John Scott's, with Scott himself acknowledging, "after all, you make the money we spend." [6]

In 1961, The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd bought out the Manchester Evening News's ailing rival, the Manchester Evening Chronicle, and two years later, merged the papers. [6] Following this, the Manchester Evening News's circulation increased to over 480,000. [11]

From 2004 until July 2009, the newspaper collaborated with Channel M to produce that Manchester-area TV station's flagship programme, the 5pm weeknight edition of Channel M News. The programme later expanded to include bulletins at breakfast, [12] lunchtime [13] and late evening, a weekly review programme, and also occasional live specials.

Trinity Mirror acquisition

In December 2009, GMG confirmed it had held "exploratory talks" about selling the Manchester Evening News, [14] following a report by The Daily Telegraph which named Trinity Mirror as a potential buyer and claimed the "disposal would amount to a fire sale" due to the current value of the business. [15] The title estimated the Manchester Evening News alone to be worth about £200m prior to the collapse in newspaper advertising. [15]

The office in Portland Street Manchester Evening News HQ, Piccadilly - panoramio.jpg
The office in Portland Street

In February 2010, the Manchester Evening News was sold along with GMG's 31 other regional titles to Trinity Mirror, severing the historic link between The Guardian and the Manchester Evening News. [16] The sale was valued at £44.8m – £7.4m in cash and the remainder from GMG extricating itself from a £37.4m decade-long contract with Trinity Mirror to print its regional titles. [17] The sale of GMG's regional arm was negotiated to offset company losses, with The Guardian and its Sunday title Observer accruing losses of £100,000 a day. [18] The sale was described by stockbrokers Numis as "the deal of the decade" for Sly Bailey, Trinity Mirror's chief executive, [18] while The Guardian's Steve Busfield said the sale was indicative of the declining business value of regional media, comparing the sale to that of Johnston Press's acquisition of 53 regional titles including The Yorkshire Post eight years earlier, for £560m. [19]

In the year prior to the newspaper's sale, GMG had reduced the number of journalists at the newspaper to 50. [8] Judy Gordon, the National Union of Journalists mother of the chapel, said: "The Guardian has not got any money of its own. It has only got what other people give it. We've made all those changes to stem the fact that our profits are dropping. Then they ask: 'How much can you give us now? Nothing? OK, Bye.'" [8]

The Manchester Evening News headquarters were relocated from Scott Place in the Spinningfields area of Manchester city centre to an existing Trinity Mirror plant in Chadderton, where other Trinity Mirror titles in North West England are printed. [20] In 2013, the title surpassed 10 million monthly online readers for the first time, recording 10,613,119 visitors. [21]

Editions

Despite its "evening" title, the newspaper began publication of a morning edition in November 2004, a controversial move which brought union members to the brink of strike action over new work rotas.

"Football Green" and "Football Pink"

For years the paper was famous for its "Football Green" edition. After the MEN merged with the rival Manchester Evening Chronicle in the 1960s, its more popular "Sporting Pink" was adopted as the "Football Pink". The "Football Pink" was first issued in 1904 as part of the Manchester Evening Chronicle, which was owned by Manchester City chairman Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet.

The "Green" and "Pink" names came from being printed in paper of those colours. In the 1970s the Saturday sports paper began using white newsprint, which had become by then the industry standard. The football results were added to a pre-printed newspaper using small presses in newspaper vans usually parked near the stadiums. The "Pink"'s final edition was dated 12 August., 2000.

MEN Lite

In March 2005 the paper launched a cut-down afternoon version of the paper titled MEN Lite, which was distributed free to commuters within Manchester's city centre.

Part-free

On 2 May 2006 the Evening News dropped the "Lite" edition in favour of a "part-free, part-paid" distribution model for the main paper. Copies were free in Manchester city centre, while readers outside that area continued to pay for the paper.

In December 2006, the paper also began free distribution at Manchester Airport and hospitals throughout Greater Manchester.

In December 2009, the newspaper announced that as of January 2010 the paper would no longer be handed out free Monday to Wednesday in the city centre and other selected locations. Instead they would be handed out free as previously on Thursdays and Fridays, but would regain their paid-for status in these locations at all other times.

Manchester Weekly News

A free weekly version of the Manchester Evening News, the Manchester Weekly News, was launched 2 April 2015. The paper is delivered to over 265,000 homes in Greater Manchester.[ citation needed ]

City Life affiliation

City Life -- originally an independent political and cultural magazine for the Manchester area -- was a acquired by GMG in 1989. In December 2007, City Life ceased independent publication, subsequently becoming a 20-page supplement to the Friday issue of the Manchester Evening News. [22]

See also

Former journalists

Related Research Articles

<i>Evening Standard</i> British newspaper

The London Standard, formerly the Evening Standard (1904–2024) and originally The Standard (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is printed in tabloid format, and also has an online edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guardian Media Group</span> British multinational mass media company

Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including The Guardian and The Observer. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity.

<i>Metro</i> (British newspaper) British tabloid newspaper

Metro is a British freesheet tabloid newspaper published by DMG Media. The newspaper is distributed from Monday to Friday mornings on public places in areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Copies are also handed out to pedestrians. In 2018, Metro overtook The Sun to become the most circulated newspaper in the United Kingdom.

Reach plc is a British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, The Sunday People, Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Daily Star Sunday as well as the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail and the magazine OK! Since purchasing Local World, it has gained 83 print publications. Reach plc's headquarters are at the One Canada Square in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The Scott Trust Limited is the British company that owns Guardian Media Group and thus The Guardian and The Observer as well as various other media businesses in the UK. In 2008, it replaced the Scott Trust, which had owned The Guardian since 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel M</span> Television station based in Manchester, England

Channel M was a regional television station in England which broadcast to the Greater Manchester area between 2000 and 2012. The station, originally Manchester Student Television, was owned and operated by the GMG Regional Media division of Guardian Media Group.

<i>Reading Post</i> Defunct weekly newspaper in Reading, England

The Reading Post was an English local newspaper covering Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. The title page of the paper featured the Maiwand Lion, a local landmark at Forbury Gardens. The paper was most recently published by Surrey & Berkshire Media Ltd., a division of Trinity Mirror plc.

<i>Leicester Mercury</i> English daily newspaper in Leicester

The Leicester Mercury is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the Leicester Daily Mercury and later changed to its present title.

<i>Coventry Telegraph</i> Local English tabloid newspaper

The Coventry Telegraph is a local English tabloid newspaper. Coventry Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Reach PLC Midlands Ltd is the publisher of the Telegraph.

<i>Surrey Advertiser</i>

The Surrey Advertiser is a newspaper for Surrey, England which was established in 1864 and gradually evolved into the Surrey Advertiser Group of seven more localised titles. Guardian Media Group sold the Group to Trinity Mirror in 2010. The owners are now known as Reach plc. The head office is in Stoke Mill, Guildford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Metro News</span>

The Manchester Metro News was a British weekly newspaper published each Friday by Reach plc. It was established in 1987 as a free sister paper to the Manchester Evening News featuring a round up of the week's news. These days the paper also has a 12-page supplement called Metromagazine and a total circulation of 308,589 in the south Manchester area . It has a smaller geographical reach than the M.E.N.. It is delivered in south and east Manchester, Stockport, Trafford and the Wilmslow area - and has three separate geographical editions: City, Trafford and Stockport. Most of the content of the paper is the same for all three editions, but a few pages differ, with more local advertising and editorial. In February 2010 along with the Guardian Media Group's other regional and local titles, the newspaper was sold to competitor Trinity Mirror plc. This was in order to safeguard the future of the loss making newspaper The Guardian.

<i>Lincolnshire Echo</i> Weekly British regional newspaper for Lincolnshire

The Lincolnshire Echo is a weekly British regional newspaper for Lincolnshire, whose first edition was on Tuesday 31 January 1893, and is published every Thursday. It is owned by Reach PLC and it is distributed throughout the county.

<i>Bristol Post</i> British newspaper

The Bristol Post is a city/regional five-day-a-week newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It was titled the Bristol Evening Post until April 2012. The website was relaunched as BristolLive in April 2018. It is owned by Reach PLC, formerly known as Trinity Mirror.

Local World Holdings Ltd. was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that published around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Trinity Mirror, to buy the Daily Mail and General Trust's Northcliffe Media business, and the Yattendon Group's Iliffe newspaper group.

Stockport Express is the local newspaper of Stockport, England. It is published every Wednesday. The sister free paper the Stockport Times, published every Thursday and distributed to households in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, has a circulation of 83,709. The editor of both publications is Paul Harrison.

The Tameside Advertiser is a weekly newspaper which serves the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. It is owned by Trinity Mirror plc. The paper has a sister paper, The Glossop Advertiser which is also a freesheet but covers the bordering town of Glossop in Derbyshire. The main competitors to both papers are the Tameside Reporter and Glossop Chronicle which are both paid-for newspapers. The newspaper recently featured in the 'Rotten Boroughs' section of Private Eye magazine after the Department for Communities and Local Government produced the whitepaper 'Guidance for local authorities on community cohesion contingency planning and tension monitoring'. The whitepaper revealed that:

"Tameside holds regular meetings with local newspaper editors to gather information and stop sensationalist reporting which might otherwise start or add to rising tensions, e.g. in response to a Kick Racism out of Football campaign, an extremist political group wanted to picket a local football stadium. A local newspaper was going to print the story on its front page – an action that was likely to bring unwanted publicity to the picket and fuel rising community tensions. The intervention of the Community Cohesion Partnership prevented the story from being run and in the event no-one turned out for the picket."

<i>Grimsby Telegraph</i>

The Grimsby Telegraph is a daily British regional newspaper for the town of Grimsby and the surrounding area that makes up North East Lincolnshire including the rural towns of Market Rasen and Louth. The main area for the paper's distribution is in or around Grimsby and Cleethorpes. It is published six days a week with a free sister paper being published once per week.

<i>The Guardian</i> British national daily newspaper

The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister papers, The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK.

Northcliffe Media was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe. In 2012 the company was sold by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) to a newly formed company, Local World, which also bought Iliffe News and Media from the Yattendon Group. In October 2015, Trinity Mirror, later Reach plc, bought Local World.

References

Notes

  1. Clause 9 of the Trust Deed states: "The Settlors whilst not purporting to impose any binding trust or obligation in that respect desire that the persons becoming entitled to the Settled Funds shall use the best of their endeavours to procure that the business of the Company shall be continued and that the Manchester Guardian and Manchester Evening News or any other paper or papers or other medium for collecting and disseminating news comment or opinion in which the Company the Company's successors or any subsidiary company of either of them shall then be interested shall be carried on as nearly as may be upon the same principles as they have heretofore been conducted and carried on while under the guidance of the said John Russell Scott and his family and the Trustees of the 1936 Settlement." [9]

References

  1. "Sarah Lester appointed as editor of the Manchester Evening News". 3 July 2022.
  2. "Manchester Evening News". Audit Bureau of Circulations. 30 July 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  3. Sharman, David (11 February 2019). "First Sunday edition hits newsstands as MEN goes seven-days a week". Hold the Front Page. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  4. "Manchester Evening News". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Keeling, Neal; Osuh, Chris (10 October 2018). "'In putting ourselves into print, we have no apology to offer, but the assurance of an honest aim to serve the public interest' — The Manchester Evening News, 150 years of telling your stories". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Tryhorn, Chris (9 February 2010). "Manchester Evening News: intertwined with the Guardian for 142 years". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Key moments in the Guardian's history: a timeline". The Guardian . 16 November 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 Herbert, Ian (22 February 2010). "End of the old guard: The sale of the Manchester Evening News". The Independent . Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  9. Taylor (1993), p. 308.
  10. Gallagher, Paul (9 October 2018). "1868 Quiz: Which of these great Manchester institutions have been around longer than the M.E.N.?". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  11. "History of Manchester Evening News". Manchester Evening News. 22 August 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  12. "Channel M Breakfast Show," 19 April 2010, updated 12 January 2013, Manchester Evening News retrieved 25 June 2023
  13. "Channel M lunchtime news," 19 April 2010, updated 12 January 2013, Manchester Evening News, retrieved 25 June 2023
  14. Brook, Stephen (17 December 2009). "Talks held on Manchester Evening News sale, says Guardian Media Group". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  15. 1 2 Neate, Rupert (17 December 2009). "Guardian discusses selling Manchester Evening News" . The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  16. Mostrous, Alexi (9 February 2010). "Guardian Media Group offloads regional newspaper arm". The Times.
  17. Busfield, Steve (9 February 2010). "Guardian Media Group sells regional business to Trinity Mirror". The Guardian . Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  18. 1 2 Neate, Rupert (10 February 2010). "GMG sells Manchester Evening News for £7.4m cash" . The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  19. Busfield, Steve (10 February 2010). "What are regional papers worth if the MEN sale is the 'deal of the decade'". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  20. "Manchester Evening News sold by Guardian Media Group". Manchester Evening News. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012.
  21. Halliday, Josh (28 August 2013). "Regional newspaper website traffic brings relief to decline in print sales". The Guardian . Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  22. Donohue, Simon: "City Life hits the scene with live events" 17 February 2007, updated 22 January 2013, Manchester Evening News retrieved 25 June 2023
  23. "The case that haunts our chief reporter: The unsolved murder of Lisa Hession". Manchester Evening News. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  24. Qureshi, Yakub (21 January 2020). "Was working for the Manchester Evening News so bad that it made George Orwell write 1984?". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  25. Keeling, Neal (24 September 2020). "Sir Harold Evans, trailblazing newspaper editor and son of Salford, dies aged 92". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  26. Scullard, Vickie (10 March 2019). "From Tameside College to Netflix - how Danny Brocklehurst conquered television". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 24 July 2024.

Bibliography