The News was an afternoon daily tabloidnewspaper in the city ofAdelaide,South Australia, that had its origins in 1869, and ceased circulation in 1992. Through much of the 20th century,The Advertiser was Adelaide's morning broadsheet,The News the afternoon tabloid, withThe Sunday Mail covering weekend sport, andMessenger Newspapers community news.
Its former names wereThe Evening Journal (1869–1912) andThe Journal (1912–1923), with the Saturday edition calledThe Saturday Journal until 1929.
The News began asThe Evening Journal, withVol. I No. I issued on 2 January 1869. From 11 September 1912 (Vol. XLVI No. 12,906), it was renamedThe Journal.
News Limited was established in 1923 byJames Edward Davidson, when he purchased theBroken HillBarrier Miner and thePort PirieRecorder.[1] He then went on to purchaseThe Journal and Adelaide's weekly sports-focussedMail in May 1923.[2]
On 24 July 1923,The Journal was renamedThe News (restarting at Volume 1, Issue 1),[3] with the Saturday edition being retained asThe Saturday Journal (which continued to be published until 1929). In 1923, the new newspaper had a circulation of 30,000, and by 1953, it had a daily readership of 106,000.[4] In early 1948, the regular format was changed frombroadsheet totabloid.[4]
In 1933, a controlling stake was taken byThe Advertiser and managed byThe Herald and Weekly Times.HWT sold off its stake in 1949, allowingSir Keith Murdoch to acquire a major interest in the company[5] and to assume control of the paper in 1951.The News became the main asset passed upon his death in 1952 to his sonRupert Murdoch. It was the latter's first media interest and commenced the foundation of what was to become the international media conglomerate,News Corporation. On 6 February 1954,The Mail was renamedSA Sunday Mail and thenSunday Mail in 1955. On 28 August 1976, the final Saturday issue ofThe News was published.[4]
Murdoch later acquired the city's other local newspaper, the morning daily broadsheet,The Advertiser, in 1987.[6] Murdoch soldThe News that year to Northern Star Holdings,[4] and many of its journalists moved toThe Advertiser. However, in the face of continuing losses brought about by the competition of television and the decline of use of public transport and given the more prominent existence ofThe Advertiser,The News (then Australia’s last evening newspaper) was stopped on 27 March 1992.[3]