Everything about The Belfast News Letter totally explained
The News Letter is one of
Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published Monday to Saturday. It is the oldest
English language general daily newspaper still in publication in the world, having first been printed in
1737.
The newspaper's editorial stance and readership, while originally
Republican, is strongly
unionist. Its primary competitors are the
Belfast Telegraph (which is moderately unionist in outlook) and the
Irish News which adopts a largely
Irish nationalist perspective.
The
News Letter has changed hands several times since the mid-1990s and since 2005 is owned by the
Johnston Press holding company
Johnston Publishing (NI)
Title
The full legal title of the newspaper is the "Belfast News Letter" though the word
Belfast doesn't appear on the masthead any more.
History
Founded in 1737, the
News Letter was printed in Joy's Entry in Belfast. The Joys were a family of Huguenot descent who added much to eighteenth-century Belfast, noted for their compiling materials for its history. Francis Joy, the father of
Henry and Robert, had come to Belfast early in the century from the County Antrim village of
Killead. In Belfast he married the daughter of the town sovereign, and set up a practice as an attorney. In 1737, he obtained a small printing-press which was in settlement of a debt, and used it to publish the town’s first newspaper at the sign of ‘The Peacock’ in Bridge Street. The family later bought a paper mill in Ballymena, and were able to produce enough paper not only for their own publication but for the whole Province of
Ulster.
Originally published three times weekly, it became daily in 1855. The title is now located in the Boucher Road industrial estate in the south of Belfast.
According to the newspaper's owners:
Before the partition of
Ireland in 1922, the Newsletter was distributed island-wide. Since then it has become a northern newspaper specifically with a predominantly unionist political outlook.
Politics
The News Letter was historically linked with
Republicans, then becoming a
Unionist title. Editor Geoff Martin was succeeded in 2003 by Nigel Wareing, formerly of the
Guardian Media Group.
Other Publications
The paper publishes several weekly and infrequent supplements, such as Farming Life and Catwalk. It also prints many titles for other publishers including
Trinity Mirror and
Guardian Media Group. It also prints the
Ulster-Scots Agency publication,
The Ulster-Scot.
Circulation
Circulation currently stands at approximately 29,000, but this doesn't include the Farming Life supplement. When Farming Life is sold with the News Letter on Wednesdays and Saturdays circulation peaks at around 40,000 and is read across the
sectarian divide in Northern Ireland.
Further Information
Get more info on 'The Belfast News Letter'.
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