Daily News (Perth)

The Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia from 1882 until 1990 [cite web|url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/nprrep.html|title=Background to the Early Newspapers|author=Margaret Hartnup|date=September 1999|work=State Library of Western Australia|accessdate=2008-03-06 and Douge, Denise.(1990) Description of the closure of the newspaper, redundancy agreement Scoop, Summer 1990, p. 5, 27,] , though its origin is traceable from 1840.

Origins

One of the early newspapers of the Western Australian colony was "The Inquirer", established by Francis Lochee and William Tanner on 5 August 1840. Lochee became sole proprietor and editor in 1843 until May 1847 when he sold the operation to the paper's former compositor Edmund Stirling.

In July 1855, "The Inquirer" acquired the recently established "Commercial News and Shipping Gazette" owned by J R Sholl. The papers were merged and renamed to the "Inquirer and Commercial News" which ran as a weekly until 28 June 1901 under joint ownership of Stirling and Sholl. Sholl departed and, from April 1873, the paper was produced by Stirling and his three sons, John, Fred and Horace, trading as Stirling & Sons. Edmund Stirling retired five years later and the three sons took control as Stirling Bros.

The Stirling Bros launched the "Daily News" in July 1882 and, in 1901, the "Inquirer and Commercial News" was incorporated into the single publication known as the "Daily News".

A Saturday edition was published as the "Weekend News" and the "Weekend Magazine" of the "Daily News" was later incorporated into "The West Australian".

Later years

Competition from television evening news resulted in losses in circulation and eventual cessation of most Australian afternoon newspapers. The "Daily News" came to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers (WAN), formerly itself a subsidiary of the Melbourne-based Herald and Weekly Times organisation. In the late 1980s, WAN was acquired by the ill-fated Bond Corporation's subsidiary the Bell Group. On 2 May, 1990, [Sydney Morning Herald, "Maxwell purchases 15% of Bell Group", 3/5/1990] British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell's UK-based Mirror Group bought 14.9 per cent of Bell from the group's managing director, Mr David Aspinall. However, the deal did not proceed, being opposed by the federal government under its media foreign ownership policy. [Sydney Morning Herald, "Court puts freeze on Maxwell's Bell stake", 11/5/1990] [ [http://www.camla.org.au/clb/CLB%20-%20Volume%2010,%20Issue%203.pdf "Communications Law Centre Forum: Foreign ownership of media", Spring 1990] ] . The WA Inc state government was activated to legislate to retrospectively place the "Daily News" beyond the decision of the (federal) Trade Practices Commission—a move which the Opposition condemned as prejudicial to Commonwealth-State relations. [Opposition Leader Barry McKinnon's Media Release: "Libs want Daily to continue but reject state legislation", 18/9/1990.] The paper was then defunct and in receivership, owing over $15 million, mainly to "The West Australian" for production costs. Maxwell's bizarre death by drowning occurred on 1 November, 1991.

WAN was the subject of a successful stock-market float in 1992 following closure of the "Daily News".

Notable former journalists

* Kirwan Ward
* Paul Rigby (cartoonist)
* Arthur Lovekin
* Bill Bailey

Publication details

* 26 July 1882-11 Sept. 1990. - main publication

* From 6 July 1886 incorporated title "Morning Herald".
* From 28 June 1901 incorporated title "Inquirer and Commercial News".

* Saturday edition from 6 Aug. 1960-29 Mar. 1986 titled Weekend News
* additional Saturday issue from 19 Feb. 1966-3 Apr. 1971, "Weekend Magazine" a colour supplement of the Weekend News

Various supplements:
* Fremantle News, 28 Apr. 1949-7 Apr. 1971
* Fremantle-Cockburn News, 14 Apr. 1971-24 May 1984
* North of the River News, 2 Dec. 1959-22 Feb. 1961
* Metro, Mar. 1987-Apr. 1987, a 16-page colour supplement in Wednesday's "Daily News".

*Source: - Battye Library online catalogue of its holdings that have been microfilmed

ee also

* "The West Australian"
* "Western Mail (Western Australia)"

References