| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | David Sullivan (1991–2011) Grant Miller (2011–present) |
| Founder(s) | David Sullivan |
| Publisher | Daily Sport Ltd. (previously bySport Newspapers) |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Political alignment | None (focuses ontabloid journalism) |
| Circulation | online publication |
| Website | dailysport |
TheDaily Sport was atabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom by Daily Sport Ltd., which specialised in celebrity news andsoftcorepornographic stories and images. The daily paper was launched in 1991 byDavid Sullivan, following its former Sunday sister title,Sunday Sport (first published in 1986).[1] It ceased publication and enteredadministration on 1 April 2011.[2]
Following the purchase on 7 June by the telecom, travel and internet entrepreneur Grant Miller, the new onlineDaily Sport[3][4] was relaunched on 17 August 2011 with sports coverage plusclassified advertising for the first time in its twenty-year history. There are not thought to be any plans for a print relaunch; however,Midweek Sport,Weekend Sport andSunday Sport are still published bySunday Sport (2011) Ltd.[3][5]
TheDaily Sport did not normally include news, although in 2008Lembit Öpik (then aLiberal Democrat MP) began a regular weekly political column.[6] Instead, its coverage indulged more intabloid journalism, with an emphasis oncelebrities, bad behaviour andtoilet humour.
TheDaily Sport, like theSunday Sport, was known for ridiculous headlines to entirely fabricated stories. Later editorial practice meant an end to such stories and an increased focus on celebrity news and sexual revelations.
Daily Sport often published fake nude pictures of celebrities and alsopaparazzi 'upskirt' and 'downblouse' ornipple slip pictures. The fake nude pictures were published with the appropriate disclaimers and captions, although the front cover image was often accompanied by a titillating caption, like "Tender tips make tastier tea". In September 2008,The Sport was criticised by thePress Complaints Commission for glamourisingsuicide by publishing a "Top yourself tourism list".[7]
A large portion of advertising was for adult goods and services, such asphone-sex chat lines and Internet chat and sexually intimate sites. A feature of the paper was the classified advertisements, which in reality were a series of short advertisements for massage parlours and escort services across the country. In later years, the classified adverts had also become a place forswingers to advertise.
TheDaily Sport pioneered the football crossword in the United Kingdom. The soccer crossword positioned in the back pages alongside the football journalists reports was unique in the fact that the clues were solely devoted to questions which related to the country's national game. After two years of his work appearing in theDaily Sport the grid also became a regular feature in theSunday Sport editions.
TheSport claimed to have launched the careers of numerous models, among themLouise Hodges who modeled throughout the 1990sLinsey Dawn McKenzie, who began posing topless for the newspaper in 1994, andCherry Dee who began posing topless for them in 2003 when they were both 16 (the legal age for such activity in the United Kingdom at the time). Among recent popularSport models wereKelly Bell,Hannah Claydon andLauren Pope; however, very fewSport models also appeared in the other tabloids which the paper regarded as its rivals.
TheDaily Sport andSunday Sport were sold by David Sullivan to Sport Media Group in 2007. The papers were relaunched in April 2008 under the editorial leadership of Barry McIlheney andJames Brown, the founder ofLoaded. In October 2008, Pam McVitie was appointed the first female editor of theDaily Sport.[8][9] In 2009, SMG had to be bailed out byDavid Sullivan and Gold Group International, after having been put up for sale by its owners.[10][11]
Publication was suspended from 1 April 2011 after Sport Media Group ceased trading and was broken up by administrators. Entrepreneur Grant Miller acquired the rights to theDaily Sport and relaunched it online through a new company Daily Sport Limited. Sullivan now publishes theMidweek Sport (Wednesdays),Weekend Sport (Fridays) andSunday Sport, through his companySunday Sport (2011) Limited.[3][4]
Circulation levels in 2009 were 84,000[12] and rising, but they then fell sharply with the company's financial difficulties.[13] The publication now only exists online.[4]
