''The Orcadian'' is the oldest newspaper in

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, first published in 1854. At first a monthly paper, it soon became a weekly. The newspaper is based in

Kirkwall Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...

but printed in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

for sale every Thursday. It is part of the Orkney Media Group, formed out of a partnership with a competing newspaper, ''Orkney Today'', in 2007.

History

The newspaper was first founded in 1854 as ''A Literary and Commercial Advertiser for Orkney and Zetland'' by James Urquhart Anderson, who established the first printing press on the island in the 1820s, and his son of the same name. The first issues were written by James, while his son printed the issues on hand set type. The Andersons were joined by

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of ...

journalist and editor W.H. Mackintosh when he married into the family in 1877, and since then, the newspaper has been owned by the Anderson-Mackintosh family. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, ''The Orcadian'' published a special armed forces newspaper titled ''Orkney Blast.'' A competing newspaper founded in 1860, ''The Orkney Herald'', closed down in the 1950s, leaving ''The Orcadian'' as the sole remaining newspaper on the island until the launch of ''Orkney Today'' in 2003. Following the formation of the Orkney Media Group in 2007, ''Orkney Today'' was closed in 2010, citing finanical issues and low circulation, making ''The Orcadian'' again the island's only newspaper.

Tabloid format and modernisation

Until 2018, the newspaper was printed at Orkney Media's printing facilities in Kirkwall. Increasing maintenance costs and a need to modernise saw ''The Orcadian'' cease printing on Orkney to instead be printed at

Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...

's Glasgow printing facilities. This coincided with a relaunch of ''The Orcadian'' on 1 March 2018, with the newspaper redesigned and resized to

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

format. The paper has been edited by Leah Seator since 2016.

References

External links

Official website
Publications established in 1854 Newspapers published in Scotland Orkney Kirkwall 1854 establishments in Scotland {{Scotland-newspaper-stub