Daily Record (Scotland)

Daily Record

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	Trinity Mirror
Founded	1895
Political alignment	Labour Party – Centre and populist Unionist
Headquarters	Glasgow (Scotland)
Circulation	307,794[1]
ISSN	0956-8069
OCLC number	500344244
Official website	DailyRecord.co.uk

Daily Record building at Central Quay, Glasgow

The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 (ABC). It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun^[2] which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in Scotland (ABC). Current circulation is less than half the all-time high of 743,000 achieved in 1983^[3] when it enjoyed the second highest market saturation in the world.

History

The Daily Record was founded in 1895. The North British Daily Mail ceased publication in 1901 and was then incorporated into the Daily Record, which was renamed the Daily Record and Mail. Lord Kemsley bought the paper for £1 million in 1922, forming a controlling company known as Associated Scottish Newspapers Limited. Production was transferred from Renfield Lane to 67 Hope Street in 1926. In 1971 the Daily Record became the first European newspaper to be printed with run-of-paper colour, and was the first British national to introduce computer page make-up technology. It was purchased by Trinity Mirror in 1999,^[4] from the estate of Robert Maxwell.

Daily Record PM

In August 2006, the paper launched afternoon editions in Glasgow and Edinburgh entitled Record PM.^[5] Both papers initially had a cover price of 15p, but in January 2007, it was announced that they would become freesheets, which are distributed on the streets of the city centres.^[6] It was simultaneously announced that new editions were to be released in Aberdeen and Dundee.^[6] The PM is no longer published by the Daily Record.

Political involvement

The paper supports and has a close relationship with the Scottish Labour Party. For example, Helen Liddell, a former Labour Secretary of State for Scotland was employed on the newspaper. The then Labour-led Scottish Executive also gave the Daily Record £1 million in advertising revenue^[7] while only giving £40,000 to The Sun, despite both newspapers having similar circulation figures.^[8] The newspaper donated £10,000 to the Labour Party in 2007.^[9] This has led to accusations that by following such a fervently pro-Labour line, the newspaper has damaged the interests of its owners, because circulation has almost halved in the past 20 years and has now fallen significantly below that of the Scottish edition of The Sun.^[8] While 61% of readers supported the Labour Party, only 7% supported the Liberal Democrats, the lowest percentage of any newspaper.^[10]

The Daily Record is vehemently against Scottish independence. On the day of the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, it ran a front page editorial attacking the SNP.^[11]

The Daily Record, along with Brian Souter,^[12] spearheaded the "Keep the Clause" campaign which aimed to prevent the Scottish Parliament from repealing Section 28. This law prevented local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". The campaign ended in failure when Section 28 was repealed by 99 votes to 17.

Editors

1998: Martin Clarke

2000: Peter Cox

2003: Bruce Waddell

See also

• List of newspapers in Scotland

References

1. ^ Sweney, Mark (11 June 2010). "ABCs: Scotsman, Herald and Sunday Herald up". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/11/may-abcs-scotland-freesheets. 
2. ^ Scottish Sun pulls further ahead of Record The Guardian], 9 May 2008
3. ^ Monopolies and mergers commission report, 1985^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Trinity Mirror website, History page, http://www.trinitymirror.com/our-company/history/
5. ^ Daily Record launches PM editions, Trinity Mirror, 22 August 2006
6. ^ ^{a b} Daily Record PM drops cover price, BBC News, 5 January 2007
7. ^ Executive spends GBP3.7m on newspaper adverts, The Herald, 17 May 2006
8. ^ ^{a b} Scottish Sun gains lead in circulation war, The Scotsman, 11 August 2006.
9. ^ SNP steps up its borrowing despite big donations, The Herald, 22 August 2007
10. ^ "MORI survey of newspaper readers". Ipsos Mori. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071213203908/http://www.ipsos-mori.com/polls/2004/voting-by-readership.shtml. Retrieved 21 December 2007. 
11. ^ THINK ABOUT IT, Daily Record, 3 May 2007^{[dead link]}
12. ^ Poll supports S28 retention, BBC News, 30 May 2000

External links

• Daily Record