The Daily Mirror: History

Question 1

What was the Daily Mirror originally published as and why did this change?

Answer 1

• The Daily Mirror was first published in 1903 as a newspaper for women ‘to act as a mirror on feminine life’.
• However, the newspaper was quickly redesigned to appeal to a broader middle class audience.

Question 2

Who founded The Daily Mirror? Who did they sell it to and why?

Answer 2

• It was founded by Alfred Harmsworth, who sold it to his brother Harold Harmsworth (from 1914 Lord Rothermere) in 1913.

Question 3

What corporation did The Daily Mirror become apart of in 1963?

Answer 3

• In 1963 a restructuring of the media interests of the Harmsworth family led to the Mirror becoming
  a part of International Publishing Corporation.

Question 4

Why was The Daily transformed again in 1934?

Answer 4

• The Daily Mirror was later transformed again into a working-class newspaper after 1934, in order to appeal to a much broader audience.

Question 5

What were the sales of The Daily Mirror in the mid 1960s and why is this signifigant?

Answer 5

• During the mid 1960s, daily sales exceeded 5 million copies, a feat never repeated by it or any other daily (non-Sunday) British newspaper since.

Question 6

Who owned The Mirror between 1984 and 1991? How did this lead to the formation of Trinity?

Answer 6

• The Mirror was owned by Robert Maxwell between 1984 and 1991.
• The paper went through a protracted period of crisis after his death before merging with the regional newspaper group Trinity in 1999 to form Trinity Mirror.

Question 7

What was The Daily Mirror once?

Answer 7

• Now owned by Reach PLC (re-branded from the Trinity Mirror Group in 2018), the Daily Mirror was once one of the most popular tabloids in the UK.

Answer 8

• However, it has had the largest year on year fall in sales of any national print newspaper in recent years with a current average daily sales of just 509,000 copies in January 2019, which has since declined even further.

Question 9

What were The Daily Mirror’s average daily sales in February 2022?

Answer 9

• The average daily sales in February 2022 were 329,485 down 9%

Question 10

How has the Masthead of The Daily Mirror evolved over time?

Answer 10

• The Daily Mirror Masthead has changed significantly over the period since its inception, reflecting its editorial evolution and the design features of a changing digitally focused industry; from a plain black and white title to a ‘red block’ around the italicised name (with the cheaper advent of colour printing), to a much more confident striking and bold look, accompanied by a constantly evolving tagline, in more recent years.