Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Telegraph
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Compact
Owner(s)	Independent News & Media (a subsidiary of Mediahuis)
Founder(s)	William Baird; George Baird;
Editor	Eoin Brannigan
Founded	1870
Political alignment	Centrism; British unionism
Language	English
Headquarters	Belfast Telegraph House ; 33 Clarendon Road ; Belfast, Northern Ireland
Sister newspapers	Sunday Life
ISSN	0307-5664
Website	belfasttelegraph.co.uk

The Belfast Telegraph is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan.^[1] Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant population",^[3] while also being read within Catholic nationalist communities in Northern Ireland.^[4]^[5]^[6]

History

It was first published as the Belfast Evening Telegraph on 1 September 1870 by brothers William and George Baird. Its first edition cost half a penny and ran to four pages covering the Franco-Prussian War and local news.

The evening edition of the newspaper was originally called the "Sixth Late", and "Sixth Late Tele" was a familiar cry made by vendors in Belfast city centre in the past. Local editions were published for distribution to Enniskillen, Dundalk, Newry, and Derry.^{[citation needed]}

Its competitors are The News Letter and The Irish News, and local editions of London-based red tops also compete in this market, in some cases selling at a cheaper price than the "Tele".^{[citation needed]}

Sometimes described as having "unionist leanings",^[7] and operating an editorial policy supportive of "moderate unionism",^[8] the Belfast Telegraph was bought by the Dublin-based Independent News & Media group in March 2000.^[9]

The Belfast Telegraph was entirely broadsheet until 19 February 2005, when the Saturday morning edition was introduced and all Saturday editions were converted to compact.^[10] The weekday morning compact edition was launched on 22 March 2005.^[11]

In 2015, the Telegraph launched the magazine supplement Family Life.^[12]

The paper now publishes two editions daily, Belfast Telegraph final edition and the North West Telegraph which is distributed in Derry.

Its editor, since April 2020, is Eoin Brannigan.^[1]

Awards

The Belfast Telegraph was named as Best UK Regional Newspaper of the Year 2012 by the Society of Editors Regional Press Awards.^[13]

Circulation

Reflecting a decline in newspaper sales generally, circulation of the Belfast Telegraph has declined as of the early 21st century, from 109,571 for the period July to December 2002,^[14] to 31,340 for the same period in 2019.^[15]


Year (period)	Average circulation per issue
2002 (July to December)^[14]	109,571
2009 (January to June)^[16]	68,024
2010 (July to December)^[17]	58,491
2012 (January to June)^[18]	53,847
2013 (January to June)^[19]	49,228
2014 (July to December)^[20]	45,905
2015 (January to June)^[21]	44,141
2016 (January to June)^[22]	41,912
2017 (July to December)^[23]	36,403
2018 (July to December)^[24]	33,951
2019 (July to December)^[15]	31,340