British newspaper and magazine publisher
"Mirror Group" redirects here. Not to be confused with
Mirror (group)
.
Reach plc
(known as
Trinity Mirror
between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and
digital
publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national
Daily Mirror
,
Sunday Mirror
,
The Sunday People
,
Daily Express
,
Sunday Express
,
Daily Star
,
Daily Star Sunday
as well as the Scottish
Daily Record
and
Sunday Mail
and the magazine
OK!
Since purchasing
Local World
, it has gained 83 print publications. Reach plc's headquarters are at the
One Canada Square
in
London
. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange
.
History
[
edit
]
The
Daily Mirror
was launched by
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
, "for gentlewomen" in 1903.
[3]
The company was first listed on the
London Stock Exchange
on 2 December 1953.
[4]
In 1958 the
International Publishing Company
(IPC) acquired Mirror Group Newspapers, but IPC was in turn taken over by publishing giant
Reed International
in 1970.
[5]
In 1984
Pergamon Holdings
, a company owned by
Robert Maxwell
, acquired the
Daily Mirror
[3]
from Reed International. The company was relisted as
Mirror Group
in 1991.
[6]
In 1991 the company was due to be investigated via an
Anton Piller order
for alleged theft of software from companies including
Adobe Inc.
,
Autodesk
and
Microsoft
. The action was delayed as it coincided with Maxwell's death, but was recommenced in 1992. Subsequently it was reported that "At the Mirror Group, for instance, 700 out of the 800 software programs in use were found to be illegal".
[7]
The company bought Scottish & Universal Newspapers in 1992, and in 1997 it acquired the
Birmingham Post and Mail
group of newspapers.
[3]
In 1999 Trinity International Holdings, owners of the
Liverpool Echo
, merged with Mirror Group to form Trinity Mirror.
[8]
During 2005 the company introduced a number of measures to manage discretionary spending more carefully, some of which attracted press attention.
[9]
In 2007, the company sought to sell a number of titles: the
Reading Chronicle
was sold to Berkshire Media Group
[10]
and 25 Trinity Mirror South titles were sold to
Northcliffe Media
.
[11]
On 1 October 2007 it was announced that the sale of the
Racing Post
had been completed: the entire sale process had raised £263 million.
[12]
In September 2008 the company announced that it would be closing the printing plant in
Liverpool
after 154 years of printing in the city, and transferring the work to Oldham.
[13]
In February 2010, Trinity Mirror bought the regional M.E.N. Media and S&B Media divisions of
Guardian Media Group
, containing 22 local titles across Northern England and in Surrey and Berkshire. This included the
Manchester Evening News
and
Reading Evening Post
.
[14]
In March 2010 Trinity Mirror stated that it would end its bout of staff cuts and newspaper closures. The announcement came as the company reported pre-tax profits of £72.7m for 2009, exceeding analysts expectations.
[15]
In January 2012 it was announced Trinity Mirror acquired Communicator Corp, a digital communications company specialising in email and mobile communications for £8m.
[16]
In August 2013, Trinity Mirror announced its partnership with whocanfixmycar.com, a portal connecting motorists nationwide with trusted local garages and mechanics.
[17]
In June 2014, Trinity Mirror transitioned its online bingo software from Dragonfish to Virtue Fusion from
Playtech
for its group of bingo brands.
[18]
In November 2015, Trinity Mirror purchased
Local World
, a major stakeholder in local news titles, from
DMGT
. Local World had been formed by former Trinity chief exec David Montgomery in 2012 to consolidate all DMGT's local newspaper holdings other than the
Metro
, expanding their holdings while streamlining production, to make the group more saleable. Its 115 titles were formed primarily by those of Harmsworth's historic
Northcliffe Newspapers Group
, alongside other smaller purchases made by DMGT and Local World subsequently, including the 2007 purchase from Trinity. The purchase increased Trinity Mirror's local circulation by around 50%. The deal valued Local World at around £220 million.
[19]
In February 2018, the company completed the acquisition of the publishing assets of
Northern & Shell
, including the
Daily Express
,
Sunday Express
,
Daily Star
(collectively the Express & Star Group), and
OK!
.
[20]
Following completion, Trinity Mirror announced a plan to rebrand as
Reach
, subject to investor approval at a meeting scheduled for May 2018.
[21]
Following completion of the acquisition, the
Competition and Markets Authority
launched a preliminary investigation into the deal, requiring Trinity Mirror to keep Express Newspapers as a standalone entity.
[22]
In July 2020, Reach announced that it was cutting 550 jobs, 12% of its workforce, because of falling income amid reduced demand for advertising in its titles.
[23]
Phone hacking
[
edit
]
In January 2011, former MP
Paul Marsden
announced that he was considering taking legal action against Trinity Mirror, over alleged
phone hacking
.
[24]
On 24 September 2014, Trinity Mirror admitted that some of its journalists had been involved in phone hacking.
[25]
[26]
It admitted liability and agreed to pay compensation to four people who had sued for the alleged hacking of voicemails (entertainer
Shane Richie
, soap actresses
Shobna Gulati
and
Lucy Benjamin
and BBC creative director
Alan Yentob
). The four also received an apology. Trinity Mirror also announced that it had earlier settled six other phone hacking claims in relation to former England football manager
Sven-Goran Eriksson
, footballer
Garry Flitcroft
, actor
Christopher Eccleston
, showbusiness agent Phil Dale, Richie's wife Christine Roche and Abbie Gibson, a former nanny of David and Victoria Beckham. As of September 2014, a further 19 claims were registered at the High Court and another 10 claimants had indicated they would bring proceedings against Trinity Mirror.
[27]
Other reports claimed that the number of victims could be much higher, with Evan Harris, associate director of the pressure group
Hacked Off
describing the revelations as: "… just the tip of a very big iceberg".
[28]
On 6 November 2014,
Graham Johnson
, pleaded guilty at
Westminster Magistrates' Court
.
[29]
On 13 February 2015, Trinity Mirror published a public apology to "all its victims of phone hacking" on page two of the
Daily Mirror
.
[30]
It also set aside funds to cover the cost of settling phone hacking compensation payments.
[31]
The same apology was printed in the following editions of the
Sunday People
and
Sunday Mirror
.
[31]
A hearing at the High Court in London heard on 3 March 2015 that one Mirror group journalist had hacked the phones of some 100 celebrities every day and that 109 stories had been published about just seven claimants.
[32]
On 21 May 2015, damages totalling nearly £1.25m were awarded to eight people as the result of phone hacking by Mirror Group journalists, including actress
Sadie Frost
(£260,000) and ex-footballer
Paul Gascoigne
(£188,250). Other damages recipients included soap opera actors
Shane Richie
(£155,000),
Shobna Gulati
(£117,500) and
Lucy Benjamin
(real name Lucy Taggart, £157,250), as well as BBC creative director
Alan Yentob
(£85,000), TV producer Robert Ashworth (former husband of
Coronation Street
actress
Tracy Shaw
, £201,250) and flight attendant Lauren Alcorn (former girlfriend of footballer
Rio Ferdinand
, £72,500).
[33]
The Mirror Group said it would consider whether to seek permission to appeal against the size of the damages, but increased the money allocated to deal with phone hacking claims from £12m to £28m.
[33]
On 15 December 2023,
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
was awarded £140,600 by the
High Court
in damages against
Mirror Group Newspapers
after 15 out of 33 sample articles in his claim against MGN were ruled as being the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.
[34]
[35]
[36]
Operations
[
edit
]
Newspapers
[
edit
]
Reach plc's printing division, Reach Printing Services,
[37]
is located at nine press sites throughout the UK, printing and distributing thirty-six major newspapers for the UK, including the
Daily Mirror
and
Sunday Mirror
, the
Sunday People
, the
Daily Record
(in Scotland), and other contract titles including titles for the
Guardian Media Group
.
[38]
Reach plc also owns a number of local titles in Northern England and in Surrey and Berkshire, after acquiring a number of titles from the
Guardian Media Group
in 2010.
[14]
Digital
[
edit
]
In 2013, Trinity Mirror launched the content websites
UsVsTh3m
and
Ampp3d
on an experimental basis.
UsVsTh3m
was a website similar to
BuzzFeed
focused on quizzes and Flash games, edited by
B3ta
founder
Rob Manuel
and running the
Tumblr
platform.
Ampp3d
focused on
data journalism
[39]
[40]
and used the
WordPress
platform. Both websites were closed down in 2015.
[41]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Massey, Jon (3 March 2016).
"Trinity Mirror pledges its future to Canary Wharf for a further 10 years"
.
The Wharf
. Retrieved
24 October
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Annual Results 2023"
(PDF)
. Reach
. Retrieved
5 March
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
Molloy, Mike (29 November 2013).
"Wade's world"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
21 January
2021
.
- ^
London Stock Exchange
. London Stock Exchange (2 December 1953).
- ^
IPC Media website
. Ipcmedia.com.
- ^
"Maxwell Scandal Timeline"
. Accountancyage.com. 29 March 2001.
.
- ^
Whybrow, Martin (12 October 1992).
"PC pirates who sail the software seas: Rogue programs are bad news for supplier and user alike, warns Martin Whybrow"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
10 July
2019
.
- ^
Wright, Jade (25 August 2007).
"Trusted voices of Liverpool"
.
Liverpool Echo
. Retrieved
11 April
2018
.
- ^
"Trinity Mirror cancels Christmas - Press Gazette"
. 14 June 2009. Archived from
the original
on 14 June 2009.
- ^
Tryhorn, Chris (19 July 2007).
"Trinity Mirror sells Berkshire Regionals for £10m]"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Fenton, Ben. (7 July 2007)
Northcliffe buys 25 titles from Trinity Mirror
.
Financial Times
.
- ^
Edgecliffe, Andrew. (1 October 2007)
Trinity Mirror calls halt to disposals
.
Financial Times
.
- ^
Luft, Oliver (5 September 2008).
"Up to 100 jobs at risk as Trinity Mirror plans to close Liverpool print plant"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
a
b
"Manchester Evening News sold by Guardian Media Group"
.
Manchester Evening News
. 9 February 2010
. Retrieved
9 February
2010
.
- ^
"Trinity Mirror to stop cutbacks"
. 4 March 2010
. Retrieved
5 March
2010
.
- ^
Sweney, Mark (4 January 2012).
"Trinity Mirror buys email and mobile firm Communicator Corp for £8m"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Home - Trinity Mirror plc"
.
- ^
"Trinity Mirror Transitioning to Virtue Fusion"
. bingoreviewer.co.uk. 6 June 2014.
- ^
Sweney, Mark (28 October 2015).
"Trinity Mirror confirms £220m Local World deal"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Annual Report 2017"
(PDF)
. Trinity Mirror plc. p. 3
. Retrieved
5 March
2018
.
- ^
Sweney, Mark (5 March 2018).
"Trinity Mirror to rebrand as Reach after Express and Star deal"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
5 March
2018
.
- ^
Sweney, Mark (23 April 2018).
"Mirror takeover of Express and Star faces fresh investigation"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
23 April
2018
.
- ^
Partridge, Joanna (7 July 2020).
"Mirror and Express owner Reach to cut 550 jobs"
– via www.theguardian.com.
- ^
"Phone-hacking: Review to consider new claims"
,
BBC News
, 24 January 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- ^
Gallivan, Rory and Zekaria, Simon (September 2014)
"Trinity Mirror Admits Liability Over Phone Hacking"
,
Wall Street Journal
, 24 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014
- ^
Sweney, Mark (September 2014).
"Trinity Mirror faces up to the financial fallout as phone-hacking claims mount"
,
The Guardian
, 28 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- ^
"Phone-hacking: Trinity Mirror admits liability"
, BBC News online, 24 September 2014 (Retrieved 29 September 2014)
- ^
Cusick, James and Milmo, Cahal (September 2014).
"Trinity Mirror 'could face hundreds of claims' from phone hacking victims"
,
The Independent
, 24 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- ^
"Ex-Sunday Mirror reporter Graham Johnson admits phone hacking"
.
BBC News
. 6 November 2014
. Retrieved
6 November
2014
.
- ^
Plunkett, John (13 February 2015).
"Daily Mirror prints apology to phone-hacking victims"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
15 February
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Phone-hacking: Trinity Mirror apologises to its victims"
.
BBC News
. 13 February 2015
. Retrieved
15 February
2015
.
- ^
"Phone hacking 'rife' at Mirror Group Newspapers"
.
BBC News
. 3 March 2015
. Retrieved
3 March
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Phone hacking: Celebrities win damages from Mirror Group"
.
BBC News
. 21 May 2015
. Retrieved
21 May
2015
.
- ^
Ward, Victoria (15 December 2023).
"Prince Harry was victim of phone hacking by Mirror newspapers, judge rules"
.
The Telegraph
.
Archived
from the original on 15 December 2023
. Retrieved
15 December
2023
.
- ^
Coughlan, Sean (15 December 2023).
"Harry wins 15 claims in phone-hacking case against Mirror publisher"
.
BBC News
.
Archived
from the original on 15 December 2023
. Retrieved
15 December
2023
.
- ^
Siddique, Haroon (15 December 2023).
"Prince Harry v Mirror Group: key findings of the phone-hacking case"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 15 December 2023
. Retrieved
15 December
2023
.
- ^
"Reach Printing Services Ltd"
.
reachprintingservices.co.uk
.
- ^
Oldham's Economic Profile - Printing & Publishing
, oldham.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
- ^
Sweney, Mark (8 December 2013).
"Trinity Mirror builds on the success of UsVsTh3m with launch of Ampp3d"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Ampp3d: News, facts and stats"
.
Daily Mirror
. Trinity Mirror.
- ^
Jackson, Jasper (13 May 2015).
"Trinity Mirror's UsVsTh3m and Ampp3d thought to be facing axe as jobs set to go"
.
The Guardian
.
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