- Daily News (Perth, Western Australia)
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The Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia from 1882 until 1990,[1] though its origin is traceable from 1840.
Contents
Origins
One of the early newspapers of the Western Australian colony was The Inquirer, established by Francis Lochee and William Tanner on 5 August 1840. Lochee became sole proprietor and editor in 1843 until May 1847 when he sold the operation to the paper's former compositor Edmund Stirling.
In July 1855, The Inquirer acquired the recently established Commercial News and Shipping Gazette owned by J R Sholl. The papers were merged and renamed to the Inquirer and Commercial News which ran as a weekly until 28 June 1901 under joint ownership of Stirling and Sholl. Sholl departed and, from April 1873, the paper was produced by Stirling and his three sons, John, Fred and Horace, trading as Stirling & Sons. Edmund Stirling retired five years later and the three sons took control as Stirling Bros.
The Stirling Bros launched the Daily News in July 1882 and, in 1901, the Inquirer and Commercial News was incorporated into the single publication known as the Daily News.
A Saturday edition was published as the Weekend News and the "Weekend Magazine" of the Daily News was later incorporated into The West Australian.
Later years
Competition from television evening news resulted in losses in circulation and eventual cessation of most Australian afternoon newspapers. The Daily News came to be a wholly owned subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers (WAN), formerly itself a subsidiary of the Melbourne-based Herald and Weekly Times organisation. In the late 1980s, WAN was acquired by the ill-fated Bond Corporation's subsidiary the Bell Group.
In 1986, Holmes à Court sold the Daily News to a small company headed by local "journalist" Simon Hadfield. The newspaper moved to a renovated pie factrory on the outskirts of the CBD. Its last issue was on 11 September 1990.
Journalists and other former staff hold a popular reunion nearby every five years, sometimes more frequently. One was scheduled for 11 September 2010. A website commemorating these reunions and the camaraderie of the newspaper is found at the "Daily News Reunion".[2]
On 2 May, 1990,[3] British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell's UK-based Mirror Group bought 14.9 per cent of Bell from the group's managing director, Mr David Aspinall. However, the deal did not proceed, being opposed by the federal government under its media foreign ownership policy.[4][5] The WA Inc state government was activated to legislate to retrospectively place the Daily News beyond the decision of the (federal) Trade Practices Commission—a move which the Opposition condemned as prejudicial to Commonwealth-State relations.[6] The paper was then defunct and in receivership, owing over $15 million, mainly to The West Australian for production costs. Maxwell's bizarre death by drowning occurred on 1 November, 1991.
WAN was the subject of a successful stock-market float in 1992 following closure of the Daily News.
Notable former journalists
- Bill Bailey
- Paul Rigby (cartoonist)
- Arthur Lovekin
- Kirwan Ward
Publication details
- 26 July 1882-11 September 1990. - main publication
- From 6 July 1886 incorporated title: Morning Herald.
- From 28 June 1901 incorporated title: Inquirer and Commercial News.
- Saturday edition from 6 August 1960 to 29 March 1986, titled Weekend News
- additional Saturday colour supplement from 19 February 1966 to 3 April 1971, titled Weekend Magazine
Other supplements:
- Fremantle News, 28 April 1949 to 7 April 1971
- Fremantle-Cockburn News, 14 April 1971 to 24 May 1984
- North of the River News, 2 December 1959 to 22 February 1961
- Metro, March 1987 to April 1987, a 16-page colour supplement in Wednesday's Daily News
- Source: Battye Library online catalogue of its holdings that have been microfilmed
See also
References
- ^ Margaret Hartnup (September 1999). "Background to the Early Newspapers". State Library of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 2007-11-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20071128065155/http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/nprrep.html. Retrieved 2008-03-06. and Douge, Denise.(1990) Description of the closure of the newspaper, redundancy agreement Scoop, Summer 1990, p. 5, 27,
- ^ "Read all about it!". October 4, 2010. http://www.members.westnet.com.au/a.hanlon/dailynews/. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ "Maxwell purchases 15% of Bell Group". Sydney Morning Herald. 3/5/1990.
- ^ "Court puts freeze on Maxwell's Bell stake". Sydney Morning Herald. 11/5/1990.
- ^ "Communications Law Centre Forum: Foreign ownership of media". Spring 1990. http://www.camla.org.au/clb/CLB%20-%20Volume%2010,%20Issue%203.pdf.
- ^ Opposition Leader Barry McKinnon's Media Release: Libs want Daily to continue but reject state legislation, 18/9/1990.
Categories:- Publications established in 1882
- Newspapers published in Western Australia
- Media in Perth
- Defunct newspapers of Australia
- 1882 establishments in Australia
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