- Express & Star
The "Express & Star" is an evening
newspaper based inWolverhampton ,England , publishing 11 different editions covering theBlack Country ,Birmingham and areas of the wider West Midlands fromTamworth toKidderminster .The newspaper had a daily (Mon-Sat) circulation of over 130,000 in the second half of 2007. [cite web |url=http://abcpdfcerts.abc.org.uk/pdf/certificates/14711619.pdf |title=Standard Certificate of Circulation |accessdate=2008-08-28 |publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations]
The Express & Star is also one of the few independent newspapers now operating in the UK having been under the continuous ownership of the Graham family almost since its inception.
Its associated website [http://www.expressandstar.com/ expressandstar.com] was launched in 1997, initially as westmidlands.com, under the editorship of
Aidan Goldstraw . It changed its title to expressandstar.com in 2002.The newspaper's editor is Adrian Faber.
Two other papers are published by the Express & Star, The Chronicle, which is a free weekly newspaper and The Sporting Star, published every Saturday.
History
The origins of the Express & Star lie in the "Evening Star" - a liberal newspaper founded in Wolverhampton in 1880 as a rival to the existing conservative "Evening Express", itself founded in 1874. In 1882 the "Star" was bought by wealthy Scottish-American philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie , encouraged by his friend and fellowDunfermline -born liberal (and by then prominent Wolverhampton councillor) Thomas Graham.The combination of Carnegie's finance and Graham's organisational ability saw the paper flourish and within two years the "Star" had taken over the "Express" under the editorship of another Dunfermline native, editor Andrew Meikle. The combined newspaper adopted its current name in 1889.
Carnegie severed his links with the paper and its parent company the "Midland News Association" in 1902, leaving Graham in full control until his death in 1909. The following decades saw a steady expansion under Graham's descendents, with the paper's influence spreading out from its native Wolverhampton to cover the entire Black Country. An office in Birmingham was opened and later closed, although a Birmingham edition is still produced from Wolverhampton.
Boris Johnson andJeremy Clarkson are amongst famous celebrities to have worked at the newspaper.The 21st century saw a drop in circulation and advertising revenues, in common with most other newspapers, leading to the company shedding around 50 jobs through a voluntary redundancy scheme in April 2006. Further cuts were announced in January 2007.
External links
* [http://www.expressandstar.com/ "Express & Star" website]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
