The Northern Echo
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
based in the town of
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...
in North East England, serving mainly southern
County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
and northern
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
. 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. Its first edition was published on 1 January 1870. Its second editor was W. T. Stead, the early pioneer of British
investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
, who earned the paper accolades from the leading Liberals of the day, seeing it applauded as "the best paper in Europe." Harold Evans, one of the great campaigning journalists of all time, was editor of ''The Northern Echo'' in 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".


History

''The Northern Echo'' was started by John Hyslop Bell with the backing of the Pease family, largely to counter the conservative outpourings of rival newspapers, the '' Darlington & Stockton Times'' and the ''Darlington Mercury''. The paper enjoyed early success under its second editor, W. T. Stead, an early pioneer of
investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
, who brought the paper international notoriety during the Bulgarian Atrocities agitation in 1876. Leading Liberals such as
Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
and
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
became great admirers, and the historian E. A. Freeman went so far as to declare the ''Northern Echo'', as "the best paper in Europe." However, the loss of Stead to the ''
Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed i ...
'' in 1880 and the resignation of founder Bell in 1889 took a heavy toll on the ''Echo'' and its sales slumped to a critical low for decades after. The collapse of the Pease dynasty and increased competition from rival newspapers added to the ''Echo's'' troubles and, by the time it limped into the twentieth century, led by
John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...
, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. The echo employed the editor's daughter Emilie Marshall and she would become a leading journalist after her father was sacked. The paper was saved from ruin in 1903, when it was acquired by the North of England Newspaper Company, a group owned by chocolatiers Rowntree. An acquisition by Westminster Press (also known as the Starmer Group) in 1921 secured the ''Echo's'' future. In 1936 Edward Pickering begun his apprenticeship at the ''Echo'', eventually rising to the position of district reporter and sub-editor, before leaving to sub-edit the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
''.Brian MacArthur, 'Pickering, Sir Edward Davies (1912–2003)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, January 2007; online edn, September 201
accessed 24 August 2011
/ref> He eventually became editor of the
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
before rising to the position of executive vice-chairman at
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
. For five years Harold Evans (former deputy editor of the ''
Manchester Evening News 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 20 ...
'') was editor of the paper, which was a time he "loved". One of his campaigns resulted in a national programme for the detection of cervical cancer. He also campaigned against air pollution on Teesside and for the floodlighting of Durham Cathedral. When Evans left the ''Echo'' in 1967, he moved to London as editor of ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
''. 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 apersand two or three evening apers so t hadintense 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 famous John Christie case ... After a year of campaigning from the North East of England I got a national inquiry into the Evans hanging.


Recent events

Today, ''The Northern Echo'' is owned by
Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Limited is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in pr ...
(Yorkshire and North East) Ltd. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations during the second half of 2010, ''The Northern Echo'' sold on average approximately 42,000 copies daily. It has four editions covering Darlington, county Durham, North Yorkshire and Teesside. In June 2008, the newspaper announced it would reduce the number of editions to two. Although traditionally a
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...
, since 26 February 2007 the newspaper has been published in a tabloid format. The newspaper transformed itself from a broadsheet to a tabloid in a one-year transition process, beginning with Saturday editions on 14 January 2006. ''The Northern Echo'' has a number of sister publications, including the weekly '' Darlington & Stockton Times'' and the free ''Advertiser'' series. In recent years, the web edition has used a paywall - allowing a limited number of articles to be viewed free.


Editors

*John Copleston: editor 1870–71 * William Thomas Stead: editor 1871–80 *John Marshall (lived ''c.'' 1856–''c.'' 1903) *Reggie Gray *Mark Barrington-Ward: editor 1960–61 * 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 * Karl Holbrook 2020–2022 * Gavin Foster 2022-


Former journalists

* Mike Amos, long-serving writer for the paper, author of countless columns, including ''Gadfly''


References


External links


The Northern Echo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Echo, The Borough of Darlington Newspapers published by Newsquest Newspapers published in County Durham Newspapers established in 1870 1870 establishments in England Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom