The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily

regional newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written 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 politics, business, sports ...

founded in 1860, and covering the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

including

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, the Isles of Scilly and parts of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

and

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

in the South West of England.

Organisation

The ''Western Morning News'' is published by South West Media Group (formerly known as Westcountry Publications), a division of Local World. Its main office is based in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

and it has

journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

based in newsdesks in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, Truro, Penzance and

. It also has a London editor based in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. Bill Martin is editor and Philip Bowern is print editor.

History

The ''Western Morning News'' was founded on 3 January 1860, by William Saunders and Edward Spender, father of Sir Wilfrid Spender. It has been published continuously since the first edition, including throughout the 1926 General Strike and the

Plymouth Blitz The Plymouth Blitz was a series of bombing raids carried out by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' on the English city of Plymouth in the Second World War. The bombings launched on numerous British cities were known as the Blitz. The royal d ...

. By 1920, the Devon newspaper market was getting cramped, with all papers running into financial difficulties. In the same year, Sir

Leicester Harmsworth Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet (1 November 187019 January 1937) was a British businessman and Liberal politician. Background Harmsworth was the fourth son of Alfred Harmsworth, a barrister, and Geraldine Mary, daughter of William ...

acquired the ''Western Morning News''; from 1 February 1921, the ''Western Daily Mercury'' and '' Western Evening Herald'' were also taken over, with the papers continuing to be published from the old ''Mercury'' offices in Frankfort Street. Shortly before

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, new offices were constructed on the same site after the demolition of the previous premises; the modern construction allowed the offices to survive the Blitz and publishing continued there until the move to Derriford. On 8 February 1997, the ''Western Morning News'' followed most local newspapers in the UK and changed format from

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...

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 ...

. In 2012, Local World acquired the ownership of Northcliffe Media from

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office i ...

, The paper had a short-lived Sunday edition from June 2014 until January 2016.

Readership and website

The ''Western Morning News'' is published six days a week and aims to provide readers with regional, national and international news with a consistent editorial standpoint. Supplements cover a range of topics, including: * Westcountry Farming (Wednesday) * Westcountry Business (Thursday) * Westcountry Motoring (Friday) * Westcountry Horses (Friday) * Westcountry Antiques (Saturday) * Westcountry Property (Saturday) * Westcountry Weekend (Saturday)

In literature

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

: "The detection of rintingtypes is one of the most elementary branches of knowledge to the special expert in crime, though I confess that once when I was very young I confused the Leeds Mercury with the Western Morning News." (''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set ...

'', Ch. 5).

References

External links