The ''Northern Territory News'' (also known and branded as the ''NT News'') is a morning
tabloid newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
based in
Darwin, Northern Territory,
Australia. Owned by
News Corp Australia, it is published every week from Monday to Saturday. It primarily serves Darwin and the rest of the Northern Territory and it covers local, national, and world news as well as sports and business. The paper currently has a Monday to Friday readership average of 44,000, reaching an average of 32,000 on Saturdays.
News Corp Australia also publishes its local Sunday counterpart, ''The Sunday Territorian'', which is also available throughout Darwin and the Northern Territory, its online regional NT newspaper, the ''
Centralian Advocate
The ''Centralian Advocate'' is an Australian regional online newspaper based at Alice Springs, Northern Territory. The ''Centralian Advocate'' is part of News Corp Australia, and serves under the ''Northern Territory News'' banner, containing he ...
'', as well as free weekly community newspapers (since December 2008) under the banner of ''Sun Newspapers'' (delivered in Darwin, Palmerston, and Litchfield).
The paper has become well known around Australia for its front-page headlines, with then-Deputy Editor Paul Dyer winning a
Walkley Award
The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
for his contributions in 2012.
History
Prior to the formation of the ''Northern Territory News'', the Federal Government was concerned about the perceived 'pro-communist' bias from ''
The Northern Standard
The ''Northern Standard'', also known by the uniform title ''Northern standard (Darwin, N.T.)'', was a newspaper published in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 1920 or 1921 to 1955. The paper was published by the North Australian Wor ...
'', a newspaper which was owned by the
North Australian Workers' Union. In 1949, they approached a Canberra-based journalist,
Don Whitington
Bertram Lindon "Don" Whitington (31 January 1911 – 5 May 1977) was an Australian political journalist and author.
Life
A member of the Whitington family of South Australia, whose family arrived in Australia in 1840, Don Whitington was born in ...
, to establish a rival newspaper, to act as a counterbalance from the bias perceived by the Federal Government from ''The Northern Standard''. Whitington formed ''Northern Territory News Services Pty Ltd'', aided by Eric White and local printer John Coleman.
The first edition of the ''Northern Territory News'' was published on 8 February 1952 as a weekly newspaper, later being published on a bi-weekly basis. Its office and print room were originally located from the former site of the
English, Scottish and Australian Bank
The English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited was an Australian bank founded in 1852 by Royal Charter in London and named English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank. Following a financial reconstruction in 1893 its business was renamed ...
in Smith Street, nicknamed the 'Tin Bank'.
Originally, the paper was quite politically active being a noted advocate of greater self-governance powers for the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
as well as being vocal on a number of other local issues. However, the paper gradually lapsed into the current apolitical stance it maintains presently with its most noted feature being its unique headlines and front pages.
In 1960,
News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
bought the ''Northern Territory News'', and it became a weekday newspaper in 1964. The Saturday edition was introduced in 1966, increasing its publishing schedule to six days a week, reverting to five days a week in 1975, before restarting its Saturday edition in 1979.
In 1967, its office moved to Mitchell Street, opposite
Hotel Darwin. On 25 December 1974, the building was destroyed, along with much of Darwin and its surrounds, by
Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city i ...
. Although the NT News was still able to print emergency editions during the crisis.
Its Sunday counterpart, the ''Sunday Territorian'', was introduced on 7 October 1984. In 1985, the ''NT News'' relocated to its present location in Printers Place in
Darwin City.
In September 2010 the newspaper took delivery of the four-colour KBA Comet printing press which allows it to produce 64 pages in full colour. The Comet replaced the Uniman 2/2 machine on the floor, which increased its capacity to allow the plant to produce each Sunday to Friday edition in a single run, and to produce the Saturday edition in three runs instead of five runs.
On 30 July 2019, the ''Northern Territory News'' will be resized from its original 405 millimetre high size, down to 350 millimetres from 12 August, with print editions of the ''Sunday Territorian'' and the ''Centralian Advocate'' following suit, being the first Australian newspaper to implement this format. The size is similar to the dimensions used by other international
News Corp tabloids, most notably the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
''. On 29 June 2020, the ''Centralian Advocate'' moved to a
digital-only format, along with numerous other News Corp-owned regional newspapers across Australia.
See also
*
List of newspapers in Australia
References
External links
Official websitemedianet sections and liftoutsNews medianet
{{News Corp Australia
Newspapers published in the Northern Territory
News Corp Australia
Newspapers established in 1952
Mass media in Darwin, Northern Territory
Daily newspapers published in Australia