The Northern Echo
The Northern Echo is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. 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.[2] Its first edition was published on 1 January 1870.
Type
John Hyslop Bell and the Pease family
Gavin Foster
1870
Independent
English
Darlington, County Durham
8,701 (as of 2023)[1]
Darlington & Stockton Times
The Advertiser
Its second editor was W. T. Stead, the early pioneer of British investigative journalism, 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".[3]
Recent events[edit]
Today, The Northern Echo is owned by Newsquest (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.[9] It has four editions covering Darlington, county Durham, North Yorkshire and Teesside.[10] In June 2008, the newspaper announced it would reduce the number of editions to two.[11]
Although traditionally a broadsheet, since 26 February 2007 the newspaper has been published in a tabloid format.[12] The newspaper transformed itself from a broadsheet to a tabloid in a one-year transition process, beginning with Saturday editions on 14 January 2006.[13][14]
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.