The Daily Telegraph
| 200px | |
|---|---|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay |
| Founded | 1855 |
| Headquarters | Canary Wharf, London |
| Website: www.telegraph.co.uk | |
The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. Its sister paper, The Sunday Telegraph, was founded in 1961. It is known for its conservative politics.
Founding history
The Daily Telegraph was established on June 29, 1855 by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh. He controlled it only briefly before selling it to his printer, Joseph Moses Levy, father of the 1st Baron Burnham. Levy appointed his sons as editors and relaunched the paper on September 17. His most significant and successful move was reducing the price of the paper to a penny, the first of the penny press. Within twelve months the new paper was outselling The Times.
In 1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave a controversial interview to The Daily Telegraph which severely damaged Anglo-German relations and added to international tension leading to World War I.
In 1928 the son of the 1st Baron Burnham sold it to the 1st Viscount Camrose, in partnership with his brother Viscount Kemsley and the 1st Baron Iliffe. Both the Camrose (Berry) and Burnham (Levy-Lawson) families remained involved in management until Conrad Black took control in 1986.
In 1937 the newspaper absorbed The Morning Post which traditionally espoused a Conservative position and sold predominantly amongst the retired officer class. Originally William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose bought The Morning Post with the intention of publishing it alongside the Daily Telegraph, but poor sales of the former led him to merge the two. For some years the paper was retitled The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post before it reverted to just The Daily Telegraph.
The Daily Telegraph reached new heights of readership under the guidance of Michael Berry, Lord Hartwell who began editing the paper in 1954 after the death of his father. Berry introduced the popular column "The Way of the World," started "The Sunday Telegraph," and was one of the first to add color magazine supplements. Lord Hartwell is credited with instilling a strong sense of journalistic integrity in the Daily Telegraph until his retirement in 1987.[1]
The Sunday Telegraph
The Telegraph's sister Sunday paper was founded in 1961. The conservative polemicist Sir Peregrine Worsthorne is probably the best known journalist associated with the title (1961-97), eventually being editor for three years from 1986. In 1989 the Sunday title was briefly merged in to a seven-day operation under Max Hastings' overall control.
Editorial Stance
The Telegraph is traditionally seen as being on the right of the political spectrum.[2] The combination of personal links between the paper's editorial team and the leadership of the Conservative Party, along with the paper's influence over Conservative activists, results in the paper often being jokingly referred to as the Torygraph.
According to a MORI survey conducted in 2004, 61% of Telegraph readers were Conservative Party supporters compared with 31% of the general population.[3]
Sir David Barclay suggested that The Daily Telegraph might in future no longer be the "house newspaper" of the Conservative Party. In an interview with The Guardian he said, "Where the government are right we will support them." The editorial board endorsed the Conservatives in the 2005 general election.
Recent history
The Telegraph has been the highest selling British 'national quality' newspaper for the past decade, with an average circulation of 856,287. This is compared with a circulation of 653,780 for The Times, 432,980 for the Financial Times, 253,737 for The Independent, and 382,393 for The Guardian.[4]
As of 2006, The Daily Telegraph is owned by the Barclay brothers. Until January 2004 the newspaper group was controlled by Canadian businessman, Conrad, Lord Black. Black, through his holding company Ravelston Corporation, owned Hollinger Inc. which in turn owns 30% of Hollinger International and, under a deal struck by Andrew Knight through which Black bought the newspaper group in 1986, owns 78% of the voting rights. Hollinger Inc. also owns the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post, and other right-leaning publications such as The Spectator.
On January 18 2004, Black was fired as chairman of the Hollinger International board over allegations of financial wrongdoing. Black was also sued by the company. Later, it was reported that the Barclay brothers had agreed to purchase Hollinger Inc. from Black, giving them the controlling interest in the newspaper group. They then launched a takeover bid for the rest of the group, valuing the company at £200m. However, a suit has been filed by the Hollinger International board with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to try to block Black selling shares in the company until an investigation into his dealings have been completed. Black filed a counter-suit but eventually United States judge Leo Strine sided with the Hollinger International board and blocked Black from selling his Hollinger Inc. shares and interests to the twins. On Sunday March 7, the twins announced they were launching another takeover bid, this time just for the Daily Telegraph and its Sunday sister paper rather than the whole stable. Current owner of the Daily Express, Richard Desmond, was also interested in purchasing the paper, selling his interest in several pornographic magazines to finance the initiative. Desmond withdrew in March 2004 when the price climbed above £600m, as did Daily Mail and General Trust plc on June 17.
Eventually, the Barclay brothers purchased Hollinger, and with it the Telegraph, for around £665m in late June 2004.
November 15 2004 saw the tenth anniversay of the launch of the Telegraph's website Electronic Telegraph. Now rebranded to telegraph.co.uk the website was the UK's first national newspaper online.
There has been much speculation about the launch of a compact edition of The Daily Telegraph to counter the change in size of The Times to a tabloid. However, the Telegraph has denied these claims and tried to attract disgruntled Times readers who want to read a more upmarket broadsheet. One of its latest advertising slogans was Impact, Not Compact. Nevertheless, new Executive Editor William Lewis is reported to be preparing a tabloid edition of the newspaper in readiness for a launch in summer 2006.
Just before Christmas 2005, it was announced that the Telegraph titles will be moving from Canada Place in Canary Wharf, to Victoria Plaza, near Victoria Station in central London. [5]
Notes and references
- ↑ Lord Hartwell, 1911-2001 Retrieved December 12, 2006
- ↑ BBC News, "Telegraph buy-out is 'done deal'", 20 January, 2004 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3412517.stm
- ↑ MORI poll of 21,727 British adults, July-December 2004 - http://www.mori.com/polls/2004/voting-by-readership.shtml
- ↑ From the Audit Bureau of Circulations Ltd. Interactive Analysis National Newspaper Selection Retrieved January 9, 2007. These figures do not take into account the varying numbers of free copies of each paper given away at hotels, railway stations, and in airplanes.
- ↑ Telegraph moves to Victoria Retrieved December 6, 2006
External links
- DailyTelegraph.co.uk
- The Guardian: The plight of Hollinger
- BBC: Telegraph empire in tycoons' grip – 18 Jan 2004
- 'Daily Telegraph "may back Blair"' – from BBC News Online
- The continuing takeover saga – from BBC News 7 March 2004
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
