 Front page of the 3 July 2007 edition | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Reach plc |
| Editor | Clare Ainsworth |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Headquarters | Plymouth |
| Circulation | 2,763 (as of 2024)[1] |
| Sister newspapers | Western Morning News Express & Echo Herald Express |
| Website | plymouthherald |
The Herald is aReach plc newspaper servingPlymouth. Its website and social media were rebranded asPlymouth Live in 2018.
The newspaper's average circulation was 3,872 in the second half of 2023, made up of 2,978 paid-for single issues and 894 paid subscriptions.[2]
The Herald is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday, and has a single edition. It is owned byReach plc, formerly known as Trinity Mirror.
Its sister titles include theExpress & Echo inExeter, theHerald Express inTorquay and theWestern Morning News.
Over 80% of the local adult population in the Plymouth region were said to useThe Herald's website in 2013.[3]
In 2018,The Herald's website was rebranded asPlymouth Live[4] byReach plc.
Its sister websites areDevon Live andCornwall Live.[5]
Plymouth Live is active on social media, regularly posting breaking news, pictures and videos on itsFacebook,[6]Twitter,[7]Instagram,[8]Threads[9] andBluesky[10] pages.
It has 217,000 followers on Facebook,[6] 81,200 followers on X,[7] 28,000 followers on Instagram,[8] 5,800 followers on Threads[9] and 500 followers on Bluesky.[10]
The Herald's print team is run by editor Claire Ainsworth.
The history of theHerald stretches back to 2 pm on Monday 22 April 1895 when theWestern Evening Herald was launched as Plymouth's first evening newspaper. Various other newspapers had come and gone in Plymouth in the preceding 100 years. TheWEH was published by the owners of theWestern Daily Mercury. It was then bought bySir Leicester Harmsworth in 1921 — a year after he bought theWestern Morning News company — and was renamedThe Evening Herald and Western Evening News on 17 September 1923. On 24 May 1924, the name was changed again to theWestern Evening Herald and Western Evening News.
After changing format totabloid in 1987, the title changed again to theEvening Herald, becoming simplyThe Herald in October 2006 when its print deadline shifted from midmorning (between 9 am and 11 am) to 1 am to accommodate the 120-mile distribution journey to Plymouth after printing was transferred to Weymouth in Dorset.
Alan Clark, theConservative MP forPlymouth Sutton from 1974 to 1992, dismissed the people of Plymouth as "believing everything they read in theHerald".[11]
In 2012,Local World acquired owner Northcliffe Media fromDaily Mail and General Trust.[12]