The Daily Mirror
Encyclopedia
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead
was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an average daily circulation of 1,185,729 in July 2011. Its Sunday sister paper is the Sunday Mirror
.
The Daily Mirror was launched on 2 November 1903 by Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) as a newspaper for women, run by women. Hence the name: he said, "I intend it to be really a mirror of feminine life as well on its grave as on its lighter sides....to be entertaining without being frivolous, and serious without being dull". It cost one penny
.
It was not an immediate success and in 1904 Harmsworth decided to turn it into a pictorial newspaper with a broader focus. Harmsworth appointed Hamilton Fyfe
as editor and all of the paper's women journalists were fired. The masthead was changed to The Daily Illustrated Mirror, which ran from 26 January to 27 April 1904 (issues 72 to 150), when it reverted to The Daily Mirror. The first issue of the relaunched paper did not have advertisements on the front page as previously, but instead news text and engraved pictures (of a traitor and an actress), with the promise of photographs inside. Two days later, the price was dropped to one halfpenny and to the masthead was added: "A paper for men and women". This combination was more successful: by issue 92, the guaranteed circulation was 120,000 copies and by issue 269, it had grown to 200,000: by then the name had reverted and the front page was mainly photographs. Circulation grew to 466,000 making it the second largest morning newspaper.
Alfred Harmsworth sold the newspaper to his brother Harold Harmsworth (from 1914 Lord Rothermere) in 1913. In 1917, the price was increased to one penny. Circulation continued to grow: in 1919, some issues sold more than 1 million copies a day, making it the largest daily picture paper.
By the mid 1930s, the Mirror was struggling – it and the Mail were the main casualties of the early 1930s circulation war that saw the Daily Herald and the Daily Express
establish circulations of more than two million, and Rothermere decided to sell his shares in it.
With Cecil King
(Rothermere's nephew) in charge of the paper's finances and Guy Bartholomew as editor, during the late-1930s the Mirror was transformed from a conservative, middle class newspaper into a left-wing
paper for the working class. The Mirror was the first UK paper to adopt the appearance of the New York tabloids. By 1939, the publication was selling 1.4 million copies a day. In 1937, Hugh McClelland
introduced his wild Western comic strip Beelzebub Jones in the Daily Mirror. After taking over as cartoon chief at the Mirror in 1945, he dropped Beelzebub Jones and moved on to a variety of new strips.
During World War II
, the Mirror positioned itself as the paper of the ordinary soldier and civilian, and was critical of the political leadership and the established parties. At one stage, the paper was threatened with closure following the publication of a Philip Zec
cartoon (captioned by William Connor
), which was misinterpreted by Winston Churchill
and Herbert Morrison
. In the 1945 general election the paper strongly supported the Labour Party
in its eventual landslide victory. In doing so, the paper supported Herbert Morrison, who co-ordinated Labour's campaign, and recruited his former antagonist Philip Zec to reproduce, on the front page, a popular VE Day cartoon on the morning of the election, suggesting that Labour were the only party who could maintain peace in post-war Britain. By the late 1940s, it was selling 4.5 million copies a day, outstripping the Express; for some 30 years afterwards, it dominated the British daily newspaper market, selling over 5 million copies a day at its peak in the mid-1960s.
In 1955, the Mirror and its stablemate the Sunday Pictorial (later to become the Sunday Mirror) began printing a Northern edition in Manchester
. In 1957, it introduced the Andy Capp cartoon, created by Reg Smythe from Hartlepool, in the northern editions.
The Mirrors mass working class readership had made it the United Kingdom's best-selling daily tabloid newspaper. In 1960, it acquired the Daily Herald (the popular daily of the labour movement) when it bought Odhams, in one of a series of takeovers which created the International Publishing Corporation
(IPC). The Mirror management did not want the Herald competing with the Mirror for readers, and in 1964, relaunched it as a mid-market paper, now named The Sun
. When it failed to win readers, the Sun was sold to Rupert Murdoch
– who immediately relaunched it as a more populist
and sensationalist tabloid and a direct competitor to the Mirror.
In an attempt to cater to a different kind of reader, the Mirror launched the "Mirrorscope" pull-out section on 30 January 1968. The Press Gazette
commented: "The Daily Mirror launched its revolutionary four-page supplement "Mirrorscope". The ambitious brief for the supplement, which ran on Wednesdays and Thursdays, was to deal with international affairs, politics, industry, science, the arts and business". The British Journalism Review said in 2002 that "Mirrorscope" was "a game attempt to provide serious analysis in the rough and tumble of the tabloids". It failed to attract significant numbers of new readers, and the pull-out section was abandoned, its final issue appearing on 27 August 1974.
In 1978, The Sun overtook the Mirror in circulation, and in 1984 the Mirror was sold to Robert Maxwell
. After Maxwell's death in 1991, David Montgomery
became Mirror Group's CEO, and a period of cost-cutting and production changes ensued. The Mirror went through a protracted period of crisis before merging with the regional newspaper group Trinity to form Trinity Mirror
in 1999. Printing of The Daily and Sunday Mirror moved to Trinity Mirror's facilities in Watford and Oldham.
(from October 1995 to May 2004) the paper saw a number of controversies. Morgan was widely criticised and forced to apologise for the headline "ACHTUNG! SURRENDER For you Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over" a day before England
met Germany
in a semi-final of the Euro '96 football championships.
In 2000, Morgan was the subject of an investigation after Suzy Jagger wrote a story in The Daily Telegraph
revealing that he had bought £
20,000 worth of shares in the computer company Viglen
soon before the Mirror 's 'City Slickers' column tipped Viglen as a good buy. Morgan was found by the Press Complaints Commission
to have breached the Code of Conduct on financial journalism, but kept his job. The 'City Slickers' columnists, Anil Bhoyrul
and James Hipwell
, were both found to have committed further breaches of the Code, and were sacked before the inquiry. In 2004, further enquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry cleared Morgan from any charges. On 7 December 2005 Bhoyrul and Hipwell were convicted of conspiracy to breach the Financial Services Act. During the trial it emerged that Morgan had bought £67,000 worth of Viglen shares, emptying his bank account and investing under his wife's name too.
In 2002, the Mirror attempted to move mid-market, claiming to eschew the more trivial stories of show-business and gossip. The paper changed its masthead logo from red to black (and occasionally blue), in an attempt to dissociate itself from the term "red top", a term for a sensationalist mass-market tabloid. (On 6 April 2005, the red top came back.) Under then-editor Piers Morgan
, the newspaper's editorial stance opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq
, and ran many front pages critical of the war. It also gave financial support to the 15 February 2003 anti-war protest, paying for a large screen and providing thousands of placards. Morgan rehired John Pilger
, who had been sacked during Robert Maxwell
's ownership of the Mirror titles. Despite such changes, Morgan was unable to halt the paper's decline in circulation, a decline shared by its direct tabloid rivals The Sun
and the Daily Star.
Morgan was fired from the Mirror on 14 May 2004 after authorising the newspaper's publication of photographs allegedly showing Iraq
i prisoners being abused by British Army
soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment
. Within days the photographs were shown to be crude fakes. Under the headline "SORRY.. WE WERE HOAXED", the Mirror responded that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and apologised for the publication of the photographs.
as U.S. President, read "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?". It provided a list of states and their average IQ, showing the Bush states all below average intelligence (except for Virginia
), and all Kerry states at or above average intelligence. The source for this table was The Economist
, though it was a hoax. Richard Wallace
became editor in 2004.
Source: Tabloid Nation
. It won "Scoop of the Year" in 2003 ("3am", 'Sven and Ulrika'), 2004 (Ryan Parry, 'Intruder at the Palace'), 2006 and 2007 (both Stephen Moyes). The Mirror won "Team of the Year" in 2001 ('Railtrack'), 2002 ('War on the World: 11 September'), 2003 ('Soham'), and 2006 ('London bombings'); and "Front Page of the Year" in 2007. The Mirror also won the "Cudlipp Award" in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2010.
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an average daily circulation of 1,185,729 in July 2011. Its Sunday sister paper is the Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...
.
1903 to 1995
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
The penny of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, was in circulation from the early 18th century until February 1971, Decimal Day....
.
It was not an immediate success and in 1904 Harmsworth decided to turn it into a pictorial newspaper with a broader focus. Harmsworth appointed Hamilton Fyfe
Hamilton Fyfe
Henry Hamilton Fyfe was a British journalist and writer who served as editor of both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Herald.-Career:...
as editor and all of the paper's women journalists were fired. The masthead was changed to The Daily Illustrated Mirror, which ran from 26 January to 27 April 1904 (issues 72 to 150), when it reverted to The Daily Mirror. The first issue of the relaunched paper did not have advertisements on the front page as previously, but instead news text and engraved pictures (of a traitor and an actress), with the promise of photographs inside. Two days later, the price was dropped to one halfpenny and to the masthead was added: "A paper for men and women". This combination was more successful: by issue 92, the guaranteed circulation was 120,000 copies and by issue 269, it had grown to 200,000: by then the name had reverted and the front page was mainly photographs. Circulation grew to 466,000 making it the second largest morning newspaper.
Alfred Harmsworth sold the newspaper to his brother Harold Harmsworth (from 1914 Lord Rothermere) in 1913. In 1917, the price was increased to one penny. Circulation continued to grow: in 1919, some issues sold more than 1 million copies a day, making it the largest daily picture paper.
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
establish circulations of more than two million, and Rothermere decided to sell his shares in it.
With Cecil King
Cecil Harmsworth King
Cecil Harmsworth King was owner of Mirror Group Newspapers, and later a director at the Bank of England .He came on his father's side from a Protestant Irish family, and was brought up in Ireland...
(Rothermere's nephew) in charge of the paper's finances and Guy Bartholomew as editor, during the late-1930s the Mirror was transformed from a conservative, middle class newspaper into a left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
paper for the working class. The Mirror was the first UK paper to adopt the appearance of the New York tabloids. By 1939, the publication was selling 1.4 million copies a day. In 1937, Hugh McClelland
Hugh McClelland (cartoonist)
Hugh McClelland was a cartoonist who headed the cartoon department of the Daily Mirror in the UK.In 1937, he introduced his wild Western comic strip Beelzebub Jones in the pages of the Daily Mirror...
introduced his wild Western comic strip Beelzebub Jones in the Daily Mirror. After taking over as cartoon chief at the Mirror in 1945, he dropped Beelzebub Jones and moved on to a variety of new strips.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Mirror positioned itself as the paper of the ordinary soldier and civilian, and was critical of the political leadership and the established parties. At one stage, the paper was threatened with closure following the publication of a Philip Zec
Philip Zec
Philip Zec was a British political cartoonist and editor. Moving from the advertising industry to drawing political cartoons due to his abhorrence of the rise of fascism, Zec complemented the Daily Mirror editorial line with a series of venomous cartoons...
cartoon (captioned by William Connor
William Connor
Sir William Neil Connor , was a left-wing journalist for The Daily Mirror who wrote under the pseudonym of Cassandra....
), which was misinterpreted by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
. In the 1945 general election the paper strongly supported the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in its eventual landslide victory. In doing so, the paper supported Herbert Morrison, who co-ordinated Labour's campaign, and recruited his former antagonist Philip Zec to reproduce, on the front page, a popular VE Day cartoon on the morning of the election, suggesting that Labour were the only party who could maintain peace in post-war Britain. By the late 1940s, it was selling 4.5 million copies a day, outstripping the Express; for some 30 years afterwards, it dominated the British daily newspaper market, selling over 5 million copies a day at its peak in the mid-1960s.
In 1955, the Mirror and its stablemate the Sunday Pictorial (later to become the Sunday Mirror) began printing a Northern edition in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. In 1957, it introduced the Andy Capp cartoon, created by Reg Smythe from Hartlepool, in the northern editions.
The Mirrors mass working class readership had made it the United Kingdom's best-selling daily tabloid newspaper. In 1960, it acquired the Daily Herald (the popular daily of the labour movement) when it bought Odhams, in one of a series of takeovers which created the International Publishing Corporation
IPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...
(IPC). The Mirror management did not want the Herald competing with the Mirror for readers, and in 1964, relaunched it as a mid-market paper, now named The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
. When it failed to win readers, the Sun was sold to Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
– who immediately relaunched it as a more populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
and sensationalist tabloid and a direct competitor to the Mirror.
In an attempt to cater to a different kind of reader, the Mirror launched the "Mirrorscope" pull-out section on 30 January 1968. The Press Gazette
Press Gazette
Press Gazette, formerly known as UK Press Gazette , is a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. It was first published in 1965, and currently has a circulation of about 2,500, although it had enjoyed higher circulations earlier in its history...
commented: "The Daily Mirror launched its revolutionary four-page supplement "Mirrorscope". The ambitious brief for the supplement, which ran on Wednesdays and Thursdays, was to deal with international affairs, politics, industry, science, the arts and business". The British Journalism Review said in 2002 that "Mirrorscope" was "a game attempt to provide serious analysis in the rough and tumble of the tabloids". It failed to attract significant numbers of new readers, and the pull-out section was abandoned, its final issue appearing on 27 August 1974.
In 1978, The Sun overtook the Mirror in circulation, and in 1984 the Mirror was sold to Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
. After Maxwell's death in 1991, David Montgomery
David Montgomery (newspaper executive)
David Montgomery is a British newspaper editor, executive, proprietor and media investor....
became Mirror Group's CEO, and a period of cost-cutting and production changes ensued. The Mirror went through a protracted period of crisis before merging with the regional newspaper group Trinity to form Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...
in 1999. Printing of The Daily and Sunday Mirror moved to Trinity Mirror's facilities in Watford and Oldham.
1995 to 2004: Editorship of Piers Morgan
Under the editorship of Piers MorganPiers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
(from October 1995 to May 2004) the paper saw a number of controversies. Morgan was widely criticised and forced to apologise for the headline "ACHTUNG! SURRENDER For you Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over" a day before England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
met Germany
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
in a semi-final of the Euro '96 football championships.
In 2000, Morgan was the subject of an investigation after Suzy Jagger wrote a story in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
revealing that he had bought £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
20,000 worth of shares in the computer company Viglen
Viglen
Viglen Ltd provides IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services.- History :...
soon before the Mirror 's 'City Slickers' column tipped Viglen as a good buy. Morgan was found by the Press Complaints Commission
Press Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission is a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC is funded by the annual levy it charges newspapers and magazines...
to have breached the Code of Conduct on financial journalism, but kept his job. The 'City Slickers' columnists, Anil Bhoyrul
Anil Bhoyrul
Anil Bhoyrul is a former Daily Mirror business journalist who was investigated over the so-called 'City Slickers' share tipping scandal along with the paper's then editor, Piers Morgan....
and James Hipwell
James Hipwell
James Hipwell is a former Daily Mirror business journalist who was investigated over the so-called 'City Slickers' share tipping scandal along with the paper's then editor, Piers Morgan...
, were both found to have committed further breaches of the Code, and were sacked before the inquiry. In 2004, further enquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry cleared Morgan from any charges. On 7 December 2005 Bhoyrul and Hipwell were convicted of conspiracy to breach the Financial Services Act. During the trial it emerged that Morgan had bought £67,000 worth of Viglen shares, emptying his bank account and investing under his wife's name too.
In 2002, the Mirror attempted to move mid-market, claiming to eschew the more trivial stories of show-business and gossip. The paper changed its masthead logo from red to black (and occasionally blue), in an attempt to dissociate itself from the term "red top", a term for a sensationalist mass-market tabloid. (On 6 April 2005, the red top came back.) Under then-editor Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
, the newspaper's editorial stance opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, and ran many front pages critical of the war. It also gave financial support to the 15 February 2003 anti-war protest, paying for a large screen and providing thousands of placards. Morgan rehired John Pilger
John Pilger
John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
, who had been sacked during Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
's ownership of the Mirror titles. Despite such changes, Morgan was unable to halt the paper's decline in circulation, a decline shared by its direct tabloid rivals The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
and the Daily Star.
Morgan was fired from the Mirror on 14 May 2004 after authorising the newspaper's publication of photographs allegedly showing Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i prisoners being abused by British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment
Queen's Lancashire Regiment
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division...
. Within days the photographs were shown to be crude fakes. Under the headline "SORRY.. WE WERE HOAXED", the Mirror responded that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and apologised for the publication of the photographs.
2004 to present
The Mirrors front page on 4 November 2004, after the re-election of George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
as U.S. President, read "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?". It provided a list of states and their average IQ, showing the Bush states all below average intelligence (except for Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
), and all Kerry states at or above average intelligence. The source for this table was The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, though it was a hoax. Richard Wallace
Richard Wallace (journalist)
Richard Wallace is the current editor of British newspaper the Daily Mirror.Wallace began his Fleet Street career working for the Daily Mail and The Sun. In 1990 he joined the Daily Mirror. During Piers Morgan's editorship of the paper he became show business editor before becoming head of news in...
became editor in 2004.
Famous features
- Cartoon strips "JaneJane (comic strip)Jane was a comic strip created and drawn by Norman Pett exclusively for the British tabloid The Daily Mirror from 5 December 1932 to 10 October 1959.-Characters and story:...
" (1932–1959), "GarthGarth (comic strip)Garth was a comic strip in the British newspaper Daily Mirror from July 24, 1943, to March 22, 1997. The strip belonged to the action-adventure genre and recounted the exploits of the title character, an immensely strong hero who battled various villains throughout the world and many different...
" (1943–1997, reprints 2011), "Just JakeJust JakeJust Jake was a comic strip that ran for 14 years in the British newspaper, the Daily Mirror. Drawn by Bernard Graddon, it was published daily beginning 4 June 1938 and concluding early in 1952 after Graddon's death.-Characters and story:...
" (1938–1952), "A Man Called Horace" (1989–), "Andy CappAndy CappAndy Capp is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe , seen in The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon, Smyth later expanded it to four panels....
" (1957–), and "The PerishersThe PerishersThe Perishers was a British comic strip about a group of urban children and a dog. It began in the Daily Mirror on 19th October 1959 and was written for most of its life by Maurice Dodd . It was drawn by Dennis Collins until his retirement in 1983, after which it was drawn by Dodd and later by Bill...
" (1955–2006 and later reprints). - "The Old Codgers", a fictional pair who commented on the letters page from 1935 to 1990.
- Chalky White, who would wander around various British seaside resorts waiting to be recognised by Mirror readers (an obscured photo of him having been published in that day's paper). Anyone who recognised him would have to repeat some phrase along the lines of "To my delight, it's Chalky White" to win £5. The name continues to be used on the cartoons page, as Andy CappAndy CappAndy Capp is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe , seen in The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon, Smyth later expanded it to four panels....
's best friend. - "Shock issues" intended to highlight a particular news story.
- The columnist CassandraWilliam ConnorSir William Neil Connor , was a left-wing journalist for The Daily Mirror who wrote under the pseudonym of Cassandra....
(1935–1967). - "Dear Marje", a problem page by agony aunt Marjorie ProopsMarjorie ProopsRebecca Marjorie Proops , born Rebecca Marjorie Israel, was probably best known as an agony aunt in the United Kingdom, writing the column Dear Marje for the Daily Mirror newspaper....
. - Investigative reporting by Paul FootPaul FootPaul Mackintosh Foot was a British investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party...
and John PilgerJohn PilgerJohn Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
(notably the latter's exposé of the atrocities of the Khmer RougeKhmer RougeThe Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
in Cambodia). - "The Shopping Basket". Starting in the mid 1970s, the paper monitored the cost of a £5 basket of shopping to see how it increased in price over the years.
Political allegiance
- On 3 May 1979, the day of the general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1979The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
, the Daily Mirror urged its readers to vote for the governing Labour Party led by James CallaghanJames CallaghanLeonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
. As widely predicted by the opinion polls, Labour lost this election, which was won by the Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and saw Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
become Prime Minister.The Mirror's continued support of the Labour government was in spite of its falling popularity over the previous few months which had been the result of the Winter of DiscontentWinter of DiscontentThe "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, referring to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, because the Labour government of...
, where the country was crippled by numerous public sector strikes. - By the time of the 1983 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1983The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
, Labour support was at a postwar low, partly due to the strong challenge by the recently formed SDP-Liberal AllianceSDP-Liberal AllianceThe SDP–Liberal Alliance was an electoral pact formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom which was in existence from 1981 to 1988, when the bulk of the two parties merged to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, later referred to as simply the Liberal...
. Despite this, the Daily Mirror remained loyal to Labour and urged its readers to vote for the party (now led by Michael FootMichael FootMichael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
), condemning the Thatcher-led Tory government for its "waste of our nation",condemning the rise in unemployment that Thatcher's Conservative government had seen in its first term in power largely due to monetaristMonetarismMonetarism is a tendency in economic thought that emphasizes the role of governments in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It is the view within monetary economics that variation in the money supply has major influences on national output in the short run and the price level over...
economic policies to reduce inflation, though the government's previously low popularity had dramatically improved since the success of the FalklandsFalklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
conflict a year earlier.However, the Tories were re-elected and Labour suffered its worst postwar general election result, only narrowly bettering the SDP-Liberal Alliance in terms of seats if not votes. - At the 1987 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1987The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
, the Daily Mirror remained loyal to Labour (now led by Neil KinnockNeil KinnockNeil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
) and urged its readers "You know he's right, chuck her out".By this stage, unemployment was falling and inflation had remained low for several years.However, the Tories were re-elected for a third successive term, although Labour did manage to cut the Tory majority significantly. - For the 1992 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1992The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
, the Daily Mirror continued to support Labour, still led by Neil Kinnock. By this stage Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
had stepped down and the Tory government was now led by John MajorJohn MajorSir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
. However, the election was won by the Tories with a record of more than 14,000,000 votes, although Labour had managed to cut the Tory majority to 21 seats compared to the triple-digit figure of the previous two elections. The outcome of this election had been far less predictable than any of the previous three elections, as opinion polls over the previous three years had shown both parties in the lead, although any Labour lead in the polls had been relatively narrow since the Conservative government's change of leader from Thatcher to Major in November 1990, in spite of the onset of a recession in 1990 which had pushed unemployment up again after several years of decline. Labour's credibility was helped by plans including extra NHS fundingNational Health ServiceThe National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
and moving away from firm committments on re-nationalisation to reverse the Conservative policy of privatisation, but its decision to be up-front about tax increases was seen as a key factor in its failure to win. - By the time of the 1997 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1997The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, support for the Labour Party, now led by Tony BlairTony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, in the opinion polls had exceeded that of support for the Tory government (still led by John Major) since late 1992, the government's reduced popularity largely blamed on the failings of Black WednesdayBlack WednesdayIn politics and economics, Black Wednesday refers to the events of 16 September 1992 when the British Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after they were unable to keep it above its agreed lower limit...
in September of that year and it had failed to recover popularity in spite of a strong economic recovery and fall in unemployment. A reinvented "New Labour" had further improved its credibility under Blair by promising traditional Labour essentials including more funding for healthcare and education, but also promising not to increase income tax and ending its commitment to the nationalisation of leading industries.The Daily Mirror urged its readers that their country needed Tony Blair, and to vote Labour. The election produced a Labour landslide and ended the party's 18 year exile from power. - On 4 May 2010, the newspaper printed a picture of Conservative Leader David CameronDavid CameronDavid William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
with a giant red cross through his face. The headline read "How to stop him" in reference to the general election two days later, thus confirming the Daily Mirror's Labour allegiance. The election ended in Britain's first hung parliamentHung parliamentIn a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
since 1974United Kingdom general election, February 1974The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
, but Cameron still became prime minister of the country within days as the Conservatives formed a coalition with the Liberal DemocratsLiberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
. The Daily Mirror was the only leading national newspaper to remain loyal to Labour and Gordon BrownGordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
at a time when opinion polls showed them on course for their worst election result since 1983United Kingdom general election, 1983The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
. - The newspaper has been critical of the Liberal Democrats for forming the coalition which enabled the Conservatives to form a new government in 2010. It has branded leader Nick CleggNick CleggNicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
as Pinickio (in comparison with the cartoon character Pinnochio)for going back on numerous pre-election pledges. It has frequently referred to the party as the "Fib Dems"or "Lib Dumbs".
Notable issues
- On 2 April 1996, the Daily Mirror was printed entirely on blue paper. This was done as a marketing exercise with Pepsi-ColaPepsiPepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
, who on the same day had decided to relaunch their cans with a blue design instead of the traditional red and white logo. - In May 2004, the Daily Mirror published what it claimed were photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at an unspecified location in Iraq. The decision to publish the photos, subsequently shown to be hoaxes, led to Morgan's sacking as editor on 14 May 2004. The Daily Mirror then stated that it was the subject of a "calculated and malicious hoax". The newspaper issued a statement apologising for the printing of the pictures. The paper's deputy editor, Des KellyDes KellyDes Kelly is a British journalist and broadcaster. The award-winning sports columnist for The Daily Mail appears In the paper every Saturday, having joined in 2004....
, took over as acting editor during the crisis. The tabloid's rival, The SunThe Sun (newspaper)The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, offered a £50,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of those accused of faking the Mirror photographs. - In February 2008 both the Daily and the Sunday Mirror implied that TV presenter Kate GarrawayKate GarrawayKathryn Mary Garraway is an English journalist currently employed by ITV Breakfast.She has presented the UK version of The Biggest Loser.-Early life:...
was having an affair. She sued for libel, receiving an apology and compensation payment in April 2008. - On 18 September 2008, David Anderson, a British sports journalist writing for the Mirror, repeated a claim deriving from vandalism on Wikipedia's entry for Cypriot football team AC OmoniaAC OmoniaAthletic Club Omonoia Nicosia is a professional football club that plays in the Cyprus capital city Nicosia. The club was established in 1948 and became a member of the Cyprus Football Association in 1953...
, which asserted that their fans were called "The Zany Ones" and liked to wear hats made from discarded shoes. The claim was part of Anderson's match preview ahead of AC Omonia's game with Manchester CityManchester City F.C.Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
, which appeared in the web and print versions of the Mirror, with the nickname also quoted in subsequent editions on 19 September. The episode was featured in Private EyePrivate EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
. - On 12 May 2011, the High Court of England and Wales granted the Attorney GeneralAttorney General for England and WalesHer Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
permission to bring a case for contempt against The SunThe Sun (newspaper)The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
and the Daily Mirror for the way they had reported on the arrest of a person of interest in the Murder of Joanna YeatesMurder of Joanna YeatesJoanna Clare "Jo" Yeates was a landscape architect from Hampshire, England, who went missing on 17 December 2010 in Bristol after an evening out with colleagues...
. On 29 July, the Court ruled that both newspapers had been in contempt of court, fining the Daily Mirror £50,000 and The Sun £18,000.
Editors
- 1903 to 1904: Mary Howarth
- 1904 to 1907: Hamilton FyfeHamilton FyfeHenry Hamilton Fyfe was a British journalist and writer who served as editor of both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Herald.-Career:...
- 1907 to 1915: Alexander Kenealy
- 1915 to 1916: Ed Flynn
- 1916 to 1931: Alexander Campbell
- 1931 to 1934: Leigh BrownleeLeigh BrownleeLeigh Dunlop Brownlee was a journalist who became editor of the Daily Mirror from 1931 to 1934. He also played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire, Oxford University and Somerset between 1901 and 1909...
- 1934 to 1948: Cecil Thomas
- 1948 to 1953: Silvester BolamSilvester BolamSilvester Bolam was a British newspaper editor.Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, Bolam studied at the University of Durham's Armstrong College before joining the Newcastle Journal. He then moved to work for the News Chronicle, and in 1936 became a sub-editor on the Daily Mirror...
- 1953 to 1961: Jack Nener
- 1961 to 1971: Lee Howard
- 1971 to 1974: Tony Miles
- 1974 to 1975: Michael ChristiansenMichael ChristiansenMichael Christiansen was a British newspaper editor.The son of Arthur Christiansen, editor of the Daily Express, Michael followed his father into journalism. He worked first at the Daily Mail, then in 1956 became Deputy Subeditor of the Daily Mirror...
- 1975 to 1985: Mike MolloyMike MolloyMike Molloy is a British author and former newspaper editor and cartoonist.Born in Hertfordshire, Molloy studied at Ealing Junior School and the Ealing School of Art before working at the Sunday Pictorial followed by the Daily Sketch, where he began drawing cartoons...
- 1985 to 1990: Richard StottRichard StottRichard Keith Stott was a British journalist and editor.Born in Oxford, he attended Clifton College in Bristol. He started his journalistic career in 1963...
- 1990 to 1991: Roy GreensladeRoy GreensladeRoy Greenslade is Professor of Journalism at City University London and has been a media commentator since 1992, most notably for The Guardian....
- 1991 to 1992: Richard StottRichard StottRichard Keith Stott was a British journalist and editor.Born in Oxford, he attended Clifton College in Bristol. He started his journalistic career in 1963...
- 1992 to 1994: David BanksDavid Banks (journalist)David Banks is a former British newspaper editor.-Early life:He attended Boteler Grammar School in Warrington.-Career:...
- 1994 to 1995: Colin MylerColin MylerColin Myler is a British former newspaper editor.Myler grew up in Widnes in Cheshire. He started his career working for the Catholic Pictorial news agency in Southport, before joining The Sun and then the Daily Mail. He was appointed news editor of the Sunday People, then moved to Today in 1985,...
- 1995 to 2004: Piers MorganPiers MorganPiers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
- 2004 to present: Richard WallaceRichard Wallace (journalist)Richard Wallace is the current editor of British newspaper the Daily Mirror.Wallace began his Fleet Street career working for the Daily Mail and The Sun. In 1990 he joined the Daily Mirror. During Piers Morgan's editorship of the paper he became show business editor before becoming head of news in...
Source: Tabloid Nation
Notable columnists
- The 3AM GirlsThe 3AM GirlsThe 3AM Girls was the collective title of the gossip columnists for the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror. The column is now called 3am and is edited by Clemmie Moodie....
– gossip columnists - William ConnorWilliam ConnorSir William Neil Connor , was a left-wing journalist for The Daily Mirror who wrote under the pseudonym of Cassandra....
– opinion under the pseudonym Cassandra (1935–1967) - Richard HammondRichard HammondRichard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
– motoring columnist; also does a column on Saturdays - Oliver HoltOliver HoltOliver Charles Thomas Holt is an award-winning sports journalist who writes for the Daily Mirror newspaper in the United Kingdom...
– sports columnist - Kevin MaguireKevin Maguire (journalist)Kevin Maguire is a British political journalist, currently Associate Editor at the Daily Mirror newspaper. From an Irish Catholic family, earlier in his career Maguire was Chief Reporter for The Guardian....
– UK politics - Tony ParsonsTony Parsons (British journalist)Tony Parsons is a British journalist broadcaster and author. He began his career as a music journalist on the NME, writing about punk music. Later, he wrote for The Daily Telegraph, before going on to write his current column for the Daily Mirror...
– Monday columnist - Penman & GreenwoodPenman & GreenwoodThe Daily Mirror investigators who exposed rogues in the Thursday edition of the paper between 1999 and 2006.Journalists Andrew Penman and Michael Greenwood found the cheats and confronted them....
– investigators - Fiona PhillipsFiona PhillipsFiona Phillips is an English journalist, broadcaster and television presenter.-Early life:Phillips was born in Kent and Canterbury Hospital in 1961. Her grandparents ran the Duke's Head pub in Church Street St. Paul's. Phillips attended Kingsmead Primary School...
– Saturday columnist - Brian ReadeBrian ReadeBrian Reade is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author who has two weekly opinion columns, one on sports, for the Daily Mirror. He was born in Wavertree and grew up in Huyton attending De La Salle School in Croxteth. He has interviewed many well-known people including Mohammed Ali and...
– Thursday columnist; also does a sports column on Saturdays - Keith WaterhouseKeith WaterhouseKeith Spencer Waterhouse CBE was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.-Biography:Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
– largely humorous (1993–2009)
Awards
The Daily Mirror won "Newspaper of the Year" in 2002 at the British Press AwardsBritish Press Awards
The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. Established in the 1970s, honours are voted on by a panel of journalists and newspaper executives...
. It won "Scoop of the Year" in 2003 ("3am", 'Sven and Ulrika'), 2004 (Ryan Parry, 'Intruder at the Palace'), 2006 and 2007 (both Stephen Moyes). The Mirror won "Team of the Year" in 2001 ('Railtrack'), 2002 ('War on the World: 11 September'), 2003 ('Soham'), and 2006 ('London bombings'); and "Front Page of the Year" in 2007. The Mirror also won the "Cudlipp Award" in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2010.
See also
- The WharfThe Wharf (newspaper)The Wharf is a free local newspaper produced at Canary Wharf.The Wharf was set up in 1998, as such covering the transformation of the Isle of Dogs as it became one of the most important financial centres in the world...
, sister newspaper – a free local newspaper for the Isle of DogsIsle of DogsThe Isle of Dogs is a former island in the East End of London that is bounded on three sides by one of the largest meanders in the River Thames.-Etymology:...
.