The Daily Telegraph
- This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication
The Daily Telegraph is a
British broadsheet newspaper founded in
1855. Its sister paper,
The Sunday Telegraph, was founded in
1961. In 2002, the
Telegraph was the highest selling British broadsheet, with an average
daily circulation of 920,000. This compared with a circulation of 620,000 for
The Times, 230,000 for
The Independent, and 400,000 for
The Guardian1.
Positioning
The Telegraph is known for its right-wing politics. Within this classification it takes a roughly central position on the authoritarian/libertarian axis. It is less traditionalist and more libertarian than The Spectator but more traditionalist and less libertarian than The Economist. Personal links between the editorial team and the leadership of the Conservative Party (the Tories) vary in strength but the combination of these links with the paper's influence over Conservative activists result in the paper often being jokingly referred to as the Torygraph.
Editors
Its editors in recent years have been the renowned W. F. Deedes (1974-1986), Sir Max Hastings (1986-1995), and Charles Moore (1995-2003). On October 1, 2003 the newspaper announced that Moore was stepping down as the editor of the paper in order to spend his time working on a biography of Margaret Thatcher. His successor is Martin Newland.
History
In 1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave a controversial interview to The Daily Telegraph which severely damaged Anglo-German relations and added to international tension leading to World War I.
Ownership and recent history
The Daily Telegraph is owned by Hollinger International of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Until January 2004 the newspaper group was controlled by Canadian businessman, Conrad Black. Black, through his holding company Ravelston, owned Hollinger Inc which in turn owns 30% of Hollinger International and, under a deal struck when Black bought the newspaper group in 1986, owns 78% of the voting rights. Hollinger Inc. also owns the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post, and other right-leaning publications such as The Spectator, a weekly magazine edited by the British Member of Parliament, Boris Johnson.
On January 18, Black was sacked as chairman of the Hollinger International board over allegations of financial wrongdoing. Black was also sued by the company. Later that day it was reported that the Barclay brothers had agreed to purchase Hollinger Inc. from Black, giving them the controlling interest in the newspaper group. They then launched a takeover bid for the rest of the group, valuing the company at £200m. However, a suit has been filed by the Hollinger International board with the SEC to try to block Black selling shares in the company until an investigation into his dealings have been completed. Black filed a counter-suit but eventually United States judge Leo Strine sided with the Hollinger International board and blocked Black from selling his Hollinger Inc. shares and interests to the twins. On Sunday March 7, the twins announced they were launching another takeover bid, this time just for the Daily Telegraph and its Sunday sister paper rather than the whole stable. Current owner of the Daily Express, Richard Desmond, was also interested in purchasing the paper, selling his interest in several pornographic magazines to finance the initative. Desmond withdrew in March 2004 when the price climbed above £600m, as did Daily Mail and General Trust plc on June 17.
Amidst the unravelling of the takeover Sir David Barclay suggested that The Daily Telegraph might in future no longer be the "house newspaper" of the Conservative Party. In a interview with The Guardian newspaper he said "Where the government are right we will support them."
Eventually, the Barclay brothers purchased Hollinger, and with it the Telegraph, for around 600 million pounds in late June 2004.
See also
\n* Peter Simple, the pseudonym of Michael Wharton who writes a humorous column in the paper.\n* Auberon Waugh, a previous columnist
Notes
\n#These figures do not take into account any distortion of figures due to varying numbers of copies of each paper are given away at hotels, railway stations, and in aeroplanes.
External links
\n* DailyTelegraph.co.uk\n* The Guardian: The plight of Hollinger\n* BBC: Telegraph empire in tycoons' grip - 18 Jan 2004\n* 'Daily Telegraph "may back Blair"' from BBC News Online\n* The continuing takeover saga - from BBC News 7 March 2004
