Sunday Herald
Circulation 18,387 (July to December 2017)[1] | | |
Sister newspapers | Glasgow Times The Herald The National | |
---|---|---|
Website | heraldscotland.com | |
The Sunday Herald was a Scottish
Circulation
In July 2012, the newspapers' publishers classified the Sunday Herald as a regional instead of a national title.[3]
Between July and December 2013, the Sunday Herald sold an average of 23,907 copies, down 7.5% on the 12 months previous.[4] After declaring support for Scottish independence, The Sunday Herald received a huge increase in sales, with circulation in September 2014 up 111% year on year.[5]
By 2017 circulation had fallen to 18,387 and in August 2018 staff were told they would now be expected to work on the Herald too, with the potential for the two titles to be combined at some point in the future.[6]
History
Background
In early 1998 the Scottish Media Group (SMG), then led by chairman
Jaspan's launch team
Jaspan assembled a launch team including former Hue & Cry singer Pat Kane, TV producer and presenter Muriel Gray and BBC political commentator Iain Macwhirter and designer Simon Cunningham. Other former BBC television and radio journalists who joined the title included Lesley Riddoch, Torcuil Crichton and Pennie Taylor. A number of former Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday staff also joined the new paper, as did several journalists from The Big Issue's Scottish edition including Neil Mackay, David Milne and Iain S Bruce.
The Sunday Herald was launched as a seven-section newspaper on 7 February 1999.[7] It was advertised with the slogan "No ordinary Sunday".[8] The use of the word "fuck" in the first edition of the magazine alienated older and more conservative readers, but the paper quickly won a following among more liberal-minded Scots. It also won a raft of awards for its journalism, design and photography, in the UK and internationally, and secured the former archbishop Richard Holloway and On the Waterfront scriptwriter Budd Schulberg as regular contributors. Its web version gained a large readership in the United States because of its consistent anti-George W. Bush and anti-Iraq War line.
Sale to Newsquest
After having over-paid for acquisitions during the dot-com era,
When it looked like the
The campaign proved successful, with even the Financial Times questioning whether it was right for the Barclay twins to have a monopoly of quality papers published in Scotland. The Sunday Herald and related titles were sold instead to Newsquest (a Gannett company) for £216 million. This was cleared by the UK Department of Trade and Industry in March 2003, partly because it was persuaded the papers would keep their editorial independence under Gannett's ownership and because of Gannett's creation of a new Scottish division to run the acquired papers from Glasgow. The DTI report said: "We do not expect the transfer adversely to affect the current editorial freedom, the current editorial stance, content or quality of the SMG titles, accurate presentation of news or freedom of expression." The deal completed on 5 April 2003.
Jaspan resigned in 2004 to become editor of The Age in Melbourne, Australia. Richard Walker was appointed as his successor. Walker, a former production journalist on both the Daily Record and Scotland on Sunday had been with the title since its launch and had served as deputy to Jaspan for five years.
The Walker years
Walker took the Sunday Herald tabloid in November 2005 which brought a temporary uplift in circulation. Sales settled at 58,000 (source: Audit Bureau of Circulations),[10] and readership at 195,000 (source: National Readership Survey[11]). The week before the Sunday Herald was launched in February 1999, the Barclays' Scotland on Sunday sold more than 130,000 copies. This has since plummeted to c.46,000, about 50% higher than the circulation (June 2012 ABCs) of the Sunday Herald (26,074 weekly).
Walker was behind the launch of the blog site Sundayheraldtalk.com[12] in September 2006..
Taxigate
In April 2006 the Sunday Herald's Scottish political editor,
Super injunctions
On 22 May 2011, the paper became the first mainstream UK publication to name a person involved with a super injunction. In
Independence referendum
The Sunday Herald was the only Scottish newspaper to back a vote for independence in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[17][18] Alasdair Gray designed a special front page for the Sunday Herald in May 2014 when it came out in favour of a "Yes" vote.[19][20][21][22] The cover consisted of a large thistle framed by Scottish saltires.[23]
Closure
The newspaper ceased publication in late 2018, after falling sales.[24]
Editors
- 1999: Andrew Jaspan
- 2004: Richard Walker
- 2015: Neil Mackay
See also
References
- ^ "The Herald on Sunday – Data – ABC | Audit Bureau of Circulations". abc.org.uk.
- ^ Mayhew, Freddy (23 August 2018). "Sunday Herald to close as Newsquest launches two new Sunday newspapers for Scotland in the Sunday National and Herald on Sunday".
- ^ Herald and Sunday Herald now categorised 'regional' newspapers All Media Scotland. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ^ "The Media in Figures: Scots regional newspaper circulations (part one)". 27 February 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Sunday Herald referendum sales boost after 'Yes' support in referendum". BBC News.
- ^ Mayhew, Freddy (14 August 2018). "Sunday Herald and Glasgow Herald editorial teams to merge in Scotland, reports claim".
- ^ Williams, Rhys (8 February 1999). "New Scots paper in crowded market". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ Fraser, Douglas (1 February 1999). "Border warfare". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ "Sundayherald four glorious years | Sunday Herald, The | Find Articles at BNET". Findarticles.com. 9 February 2003. Archived from the original on 16 October 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
- ^ Sunday Herald abc. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ^ "Open Access". Nrs.co.uk. 2 January 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
- ^ "Fresh Online". Sunday herald. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
- ^ a b "Sunday Herald names footballer accused on Twitter". BBC. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
- ^ Cheng, Jackie (20 May 2011). "Twitter asked to stop users from gossiping then gets sued". Ars technica. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
- ^ "Scottish newspaper's identification of injunction footballer: the legal view". The Guardian. UK. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ "Award 2011". European Newspapers Congress. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ^ "Sunday Herald is first paper to back Scottish independence". The Herald. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Sunday Herald backs independence". The Targe. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ Cameron, Lucinda (29 December 2019). "Alasdair Gray's creative talents spanned the arts". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
- ^ "Sunday Herald is first paper to back Scottish independence". Sunday Herald. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
- ^ "Newspaper backs 'Yes' campaign". BBC News. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Sunday Herald becomes first Scottish newspaper to back yes vote on independence". Press Gazette. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Sunday Herald declares 'yes' for Scottish independence". The Guardian. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Sunday Herald shuts amid sales decline". BBC News. 3 September 2018.
- Hamish McKay (28 April 2006). "Hutcheon leads winners at Scottish press awards". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
- "Gannett UK Limited and SMG plc: A report on the proposed transfers". Competition Commission. 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2006.