Western Daily Press
The Western Daily Press is a daily tabloid newspaper based in Bristol and sold widely throughout south-western England; its distribution area stretches as far to the south-west as Penzance and as far to the north-east as Tewkesbury, and even into South Wales!
It was founded in 1858 by the splendidly-named Peter Stewart Macliver, a Scottish businessman, and Tyneside journalist Walter Reid. It was taken over 101 years later by Bristol United Press, who also own and publish the Bristol Evening Post. In 1999 Bristol United Press was taken over by Northcliffe Media, the regional newspaper wing of the Daily Mail & General Trust group. Formally the newspaper’s now published by Bristol News & Media.
Politically, it’s conservative, although it avoided taking sides on foxhunting, an issue on which its readership was likely to be divided.
It’s suffered in recent years from declining circulation – a particular problem given its disproportionately large distribution area, much of which is relatively poorly served with road and rail. In 2005 cuts in staff led to some of its journalists to auction themselves on eBay as a tongue-in-cheek protest. The NUJ has claimed that the cuts were driven by unrealistic shareholder expectations rather than genuine financial hardship.
There are four editions:
- Severnside (for Gloucestershire and southern Worcestershire)
- Somerset
- Wiltshire
- Late City (for the city of Bristol)
Website: http://www.westpress.co.uk/
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