Packet Newspapers

{{More citations needed|date=August 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Falmouth & Penryn Packet; Helston Packet; The Packet (incorporating Truro and Camborne & Redruth); West Cornwall Packet | image = | type = Weekly newspapers | format = Tabloid | founded = 1829 | owners = Newsquest | political_position = | headquarters = Falmouth, Cornwall | circulation = 2,824 | circulation_date = 2023 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.org.uk/product/1678 |title= Packet Series (Falmouth Packet / Helston Packet / The Packet) |publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK) |date=21 February 2024 |access-date=2 March 2024}}</ref> | editor = | website = {{URL|thepacket.co.uk}} }} '''Packet Newspapers (Cornwall) Limited''' is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Newsquest media group, which publishes the ''Packet'' series of weekly tabloid newspapers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Newsquest - Our titles|url=http://www.newsquest.co.uk/portfolio/our-titles/|accessdate=2 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Newsquest Office Finder - Falmouth|url=http://www.newsquest.co.uk/offices/falmouth/|accessdate=14 August 2012}}</ref>

The series is named after the Falmouth Packet service, which commenced operation in about 1688.<ref>{{cite web|title="The Packet service and the packet ships gave their name to this newspaper." - First Packet post for 160 years sets sail from Falmouth and Penryn (from Falmouth Packet) 1 July 2012|url=http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fpfalmouth/9790056.First_Packet_post_for_160_years_sets_sail_from_Falmouth_and_Penryn/|accessdate=2 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Falmouth Packet, 1 August 2008: Walk around Falmouth|url=http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/718918.walk_around_falmouth/|accessdate=30 July 2012}}</ref>

== Circulation == Weekly circulation for all ''Packet'' titles was 39,350 as of 27 February 2013,<ref name="linford1">{{cite web|title=ABC figures: How all the weeklies performed - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage by Paul Linford, last updated on February 27, 2013|url=http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2013/news/abc-figures-how-all-the-uk-weeklies-performed-2/|accessdate=17 March 2013}}</ref> 32% greater than that of their regional rival, Northcliffe Media's ''The West Briton'', which had a circulation of 29,710 on the same date.<ref name="linford1">{{cite web|title=ABC figures: How all the weeklies performed - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage by Paul Linford, last updated on February 27, 2013|url=http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2013/news/abc-figures-how-all-the-uk-weeklies-performed-2/|accessdate=17 March 2013}}</ref>

== The ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet'' == The ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet'' is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in and around the towns of Falmouth and Penryn on the southern coast of western Cornwall.<ref name="britishpapers1">{{cite web|title=British Newspapers Online entry for Falmouth & Penryn Packet|url=http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/falmouth-penryn-packet|accessdate=1 September 2012}}</ref>

Several newspapers have borne the title ''Falmouth Packet'' in the past. The earliest, founded in 1801, was the ''Cornwall Gazette & Falmouth Packet'', which lasted under that title for less than two years when the proprietor, one Thomas Flindell (1767-1824), was imprisoned for debt. It was the first Cornish newspaper.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland - Laurel Brake, Marysa Demoor - Google Books|isbn = 9789038213408|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVrUTUelE6YC&q=%22falmouth+packet%22+journalism&pg=PA222|accessdate=1 September 2012|last1 = Brake|first1 = Laurel|last2 = Demoor|first2 = Marysa|year = 2009}}</ref>

In 1803 Flindell moved his operations to Truro and started the ''Royal Cornwall Gazette and Western Advertiser,'' which ultimately was absorbed into The West Briton following a bitter feud between the two publications.<ref name="google1"/>

The second ''Falmouth Packet'' was the ''Falmouth Packet & Cornish Herald'', founded in 1829 and published until 1848. The third, ''Lake's Falmouth Packet & Cornwall Advertiser'', is the ancestor of the present-day ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet''; it started publication in 1858.<ref name="britishpapers1"/>

The current ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet'' is the lead title in a series of ''Packet'' weekly paid-for tabloids for central and western Cornwall.<ref name="britishpapers1"/>

== The ''Helston Packet'' == The ''Helston Packet'' is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in and around the town of Helston in southern Cornwall, including Porthleven, Mullion and The Lizard peninsula. It was first published in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|title=British Newspapers Online entry for Helston Packet|url=http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/helston-packet/|accessdate=1 September 2012}}</ref>

All ''Packet'' titles are published by Packet Newspapers from editorial offices in Falmouth.<ref name="britishpapers1"/>

== Website == All the ''Packet'' titles, plus the closely associated ''Helston & District Gazette'', share a common website - [http://www.thepacket.co.uk www.thepacket.co.uk].<ref name="britishpapers1"/>

== Company history == Packet Newspapers used to be part of the Express Newspapers group (and, before that, its predecessor Beaverbrook Newspapers), but as of 1987 is a subsidiary of the Newsquest newspaper group's South West division.

There are currently (February 2013) four ''Packets'' - ''The Falmouth/Penryn Packet'', ''The Helston Packet'', ''The West Cornwall Packet'', and ''The Packet'' (covering Truro, Camborne and Redruth); in 2010 the ''Penwith Pirate'' was replaced by the ''West Cornwall Packet''. They all come out on Wednesdays.<ref>{{cite web|title=British Newspapers Online entry for Falmouth & Penryn Packet|url=http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/falmouth-penryn-packet|accessdate=14 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=British Newspapers Online entry for Helston Packet|url=http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-sw/helston-packet/|accessdate=14 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Companies House entry for Packet Newspapers (Cornwall) Limited|url=http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/449a6c5a2e3d036bb657af23fcf42f01/compdetails|accessdate=30 July 2012}}</ref>

==References== <references />

==See also== *Media in Cornwall

Category:Newspapers published in Cornwall