{{Short description|British daily newspaper for North West England}} {{use British English|date=October 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Manchester Evening News | image = ManchesterEveningNewscover.jpg | caption = ''Manchester Evening News'' front page on 29 December 2017 | type = [[Daily newspaper]] | format = Tabloid | founded = {{start date and age|1868}} | owners = [[Reach plc]] | headquarters = [[Chadderton]], Greater Manchester, England | political_position = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] | editor = Sarah Lester<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/it-means-great-deal-sarah-24385923 | title=Sarah Lester appointed as editor of the Manchester Evening News | date=3 July 2022 }}</ref> | ISSN = 0962-2276 | oclc = 500150526 | circulation = 4,702 | circulation_date = 2025 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=Manchester Evening News |url=https://www.abc.org.uk/product/9786 |publisher=[[Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK)|Audit Bureau of Circulations]] |date= 29 January 2026 |access-date=23 February 2026}}</ref> | website = {{official URL}} }}
The '''''Manchester Evening News''''' ('''''MEN''''') is a regional daily newspaper covering [[Greater Manchester]] in [[North West England]], founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the '''''MEN on Sunday''''', was launched in February 2019.<ref name="MENSunday">{{cite web |title=First Sunday edition hits newsstands as MEN goes seven-days a week |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2019/news/editor-hails-big-deal-for-patch-as-mens-first-sunday-edition-goes-to-print/ |author=Sharman, David |date=11 February 2019 |access-date=12 February 2019 |work=Hold the Front Page}}</ref> The newspaper is owned by publishing group [[Reach plc]] (formerly Trinity Mirror).<sup>[[Manchester Evening News#cite note-2|[2]]]</sup>
Since adopting a 'digital-first' strategy in 2014, the ''MEN'' has experienced significant online growth, despite its average print daily circulation for the first half of 2021 falling to 22,107. In the 2018 British Regional Press Awards, it was named Newspaper of the Year and Website of the Year.
==History== ===Formation and ''The Guardian'' ownership=== The ''Manchester Evening News'' was first published on 10 October 1868 by [[Mitchell Henry]] as part of his [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliamentary]] election campaign, its first issue four pages long and costing a halfpenny.<ref name="BNA">{{cite web|title=Manchester Evening News|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/manchester-evening-news|access-date=17 October 2018|work=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The newspaper was run from a small office on Brown Street, with approximately a dozen staff.<ref name="MENhistory">{{cite web|title='In putting ourselves into print, we have no apology to offer, but the assurance of an honest aim to serve the public interest' — The Manchester Evening News, 150 years of telling your stories|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-evening-news-150-anniversary-15234224|last=Keeling|first=Neal|last2=Osuh|first2=Chris|date=10 October 2018|access-date=17 October 2018|work=Manchester Evening News}}</ref> Upon the newspaper's launch, Henry said: "In putting ourselves into print, we have no apology to offer, but the assurance of an honest aim to serve the public interest."<ref name="MENhistory"/> Henry's quote is displayed on the entrance wall to the newspaper's modern offices.<ref name="MENhistory"/>
With his Parliamentary bid unsuccessful, Henry lost interest in the business, selling the publication to John Edward Taylor Jr., the son of newspaper proprietor [[John Edward Taylor]], founder of the ''Manchester Guardian'' (now ''[[The Guardian]]''). The newspaper became the evening counterpart and sister title to ''The Manchester Guardian'' and the two titles began sharing an office, located on Cross Street, from 1879.<ref name="Tryhorn">{{cite web|title=Manchester Evening News: intertwined with the Guardian for 142 years|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/feb/09/manchester-evening-news-theguardian|author=Tryhorn, Chris|date=9 February 2010|access-date=17 October 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Taylor brought his brother-in-law Peter Allen in as a partner in the ''Manchester Evening News'' and, after Taylor's death in 1907, the ''Guardian'' was sold to its editor [[C. P. Scott]] while the ''Evening News'' passed into the hands of the Allen family. In 1924, C. P. Scott's son [[John Russell Scott]] reunited the papers, buying out the ''Manchester Evening News'' and forming The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd, which in turn later became the [[Guardian Media Group]] (GMG).<ref name="KeyMoments">{{cite web|title=Key moments in the Guardian's history: a timeline|url=https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/11/1|date=16 November 2017|access-date=18 October 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>
[[File:Manchester Evening News.jpg|thumb|The former offices at Spinningfield]] In 1936, John Russell Scott formed the [[Scott Trust]] in order to protect the company from [[Inheritance tax|death duties]], following the deaths of his father and younger brother [[Edward Taylor Scott|Ted]] in close succession.<ref name="KeyMoments"/> The contents of the original deeds were not disclosed by the company, but a copy obtained by ''[[The Independent]]'' revealed the terms compelled trustees to "use their best endeavours to procure that the [...] ''Manchester Guardian'' and ''Manchester Evening News'' [...] shall be carried on as nearly as may be upon the same principles as they have heretofore."<ref name="Independent">{{cite web|title=End of the old guard: The sale of the Manchester Evening News|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/end-of-the-old-guard-the-sale-of-the-manchester-evening-news-1906267.html|author=Herbert, Ian|date=22 February 2010|access-date=20 October 2018|work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>{{refn|Clause 9 of the Trust Deed states: "The Settlors whilst not purporting to impose any binding trust or obligation in that respect desire that the persons becoming entitled to the Settled Funds shall use the best of their endeavours to procure that the business of the Company shall be continued and that the ''Manchester Guardian'' and ''Manchester Evening News'' or any other paper or papers or other medium for collecting and disseminating news comment or opinion in which the Company the Company's successors or any subsidiary company of either of them shall then be interested shall be carried on as nearly as may be upon the same principles as they have heretofore been conducted and carried on while under the guidance of the said John Russell Scott and his family and the Trustees of the 1936 Settlement."{{sfnp|Taylor|1993|p=308}}|group=nb}}
During the editorship of [[William Haley]] (who later became the [[Director-General of the BBC]] and subsequently the editor of ''[[The Times]]'') in the 1930s, the newspaper's circulation grew to over 200,000.<ref name="Tryhorn"/> By 1939 the publication was the largest provincial evening newspaper in the country.<ref name="Gallagher">{{cite web|title=1868 Quiz: Which of these great Manchester institutions have been around longer than the M.E.N.? |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-evening-news-1868-quiz-7898282|author=Gallagher, Paul|date=9 October 2018|access-date=18 October 2018|work=Manchester Evening News}}</ref> The newspaper was a [[cash cow]] for its parent company and kept its stablemate ''The Manchester Guardian'' afloat. The financial success of the ''Manchester Evening News'' was reflected in Haley's salary, which was even greater than John Scott's, with Scott himself acknowledging, "after all, you make the money we spend."<ref name="Tryhorn"/>
In 1961, The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd bought out the ''Manchester Evening News''{{'}}s ailing rival, the ''Manchester Evening Chronicle'', and two years later, merged the papers.<ref name="Tryhorn"/> Following this, the ''Manchester Evening News''{{'}}s circulation increased to over 480,000.<ref name="MEN2011">{{cite web|title=History of Manchester Evening News|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/history-of-manchester-evening-news-889396|date=22 August 2011|access-date=22 October 2018|work=Manchester Evening News}}</ref>
From 2004 until July 2009, the newspaper collaborated with [[Channel M]] to produce that Manchester-area TV station's flagship programme, the 5pm weeknight edition of ''[[Channel M News]].'' The programme later expanded to include bulletins at breakfast,<ref name="breakfast_2010_04_19_manchestereveningnews">[https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/channel-m-breakfast-show-908860 "Channel M Breakfast Show,"] 19 April 2010, updated 12 January 2013, ''Manchester Evening News'' retrieved 25 June 2023</ref> lunchtime<ref name="lunchtime_2013 01 13_manchestereveningnews_co_uk">[https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/channel-m-lunchtime-news-908704 "Channel M lunchtime news,"] 19 April 2010, updated 12 January 2013, ''Manchester Evening News,'' retrieved 25 June 2023</ref> and late evening, a weekly review programme, and also occasional live specials.
===Trinity Mirror acquisition=== In December 2009, GMG confirmed it had held "exploratory talks" about selling the ''Manchester Evening News'',<ref name="Saletalks">{{cite web|title=Talks held on Manchester Evening News sale, says Guardian Media Group|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/dec/17/manchester-evening-news|author=Brook, Stephen|date=17 December 2009|access-date=22 October 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> following a report by ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' which named [[Trinity Mirror]] as a potential buyer and claimed the "disposal would amount to a fire sale" due to the current value of the business.<ref name="Neate">{{cite web|title=Guardian discusses selling Manchester Evening News|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/6828940/Guardian-discusses-selling-Manchester-Evening-News.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/6828940/Guardian-discusses-selling-Manchester-Evening-News.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|author=Neate, Rupert|date=17 December 2009|access-date=22 October 2018|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The title estimated the ''Manchester Evening News'' alone to be worth about £200 million prior to the collapse in newspaper advertising.<ref name="Neate"/>
[[File:Manchester Evening News HQ, Piccadilly - panoramio.jpg|thumb|The office in Portland Street]] In February 2010, the ''Manchester Evening News'' was sold along with GMG's 31 other regional titles to [[Trinity Mirror]], severing the historic link between ''The Guardian'' and the ''Manchester Evening News''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/guardian-media-group-offloads-regional-newspaper-arm-m5p9gxn0tmc|title=Guardian Media Group offloads regional newspaper arm|newspaper=[[The Times]]|last=Mostrous|first=Alexi|date=9 February 2010}}</ref> The sale was valued at £44.8 million: £7.4 million in cash and the remainder from GMG extricating itself from a £37.4 million decade-long contract with Trinity Mirror to print its regional titles.<ref name="GMGsale">{{cite web|title=Guardian Media Group sells regional business to Trinity Mirror|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/feb/09/guardian-media-group-trinity-mirror|author=Busfield, Steve|date=9 February 2010|access-date=18 October 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The sale of GMG's regional arm was negotiated to offset company losses, with ''The Guardian'' and its Sunday title ''[[The Observer|Observer]]'' accruing losses of £100,000 a day.<ref name="Daily Telegraph">{{cite web|title=GMG sells Manchester Evening News for £7.4m cash|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/7199255/GMG-sells-Manchester-Evening-News-for-7.4m-cash.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/7199255/GMG-sells-Manchester-Evening-News-for-7.4m-cash.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|author=Neate, Rupert|date=10 February 2010|access-date=18 October 2018|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The sale was described by stockbrokers [[Numis]] as "the deal of the decade" for [[Sly Bailey]], Trinity Mirror's chief executive,<ref name="Daily Telegraph"/> while ''The Guardian''{{'}}s Steve Busfield said the sale was indicative of the declining business value of regional media, comparing the sale to that of [[Johnston Press]]'s acquisition of 53 regional titles including ''[[The Yorkshire Post]]'' eight years earlier, for £560 million.<ref name="Busfield">{{cite web|title=What are regional papers worth if the MEN sale is the 'deal of the decade'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2010/feb/10/manchester-evening-news-trinity-mirror|author=Busfield, Steve|date=10 February 2010|access-date=22 October 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>
In the year prior to the newspaper's sale, GMG had reduced the number of journalists at the newspaper to 50.<ref name="Independent"/> Judy Gordon, the [[National Union of Journalists]] [[Father of the chapel|mother of the chapel]], said: "''The Guardian'' has not got any money of its own. It has only got what other people give it. We've made all those changes to stem the fact that our profits are dropping. Then they ask: 'How much can you give us now? Nothing? OK, Bye.'"<ref name="Independent"/>
The ''Manchester Evening News'' headquarters were relocated from Scott Place in the [[Spinningfields]] area of [[Manchester city centre]] to an existing Trinity Mirror plant in [[Chadderton]], where other Trinity Mirror titles in [[North West England]] are printed.<ref name="Manchester Evening News sold by Guardian Media Group">{{cite news|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1192028_manchester_evening_news_sold_by_guardian_media_group_ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120909234851/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1192028_manchester_evening_news_sold_by_guardian_media_group_ |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 September 2012 |title=Manchester Evening News sold by Guardian Media Group |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=9 February 2010 }}</ref> In 2013, the title surpassed 10 million monthly online readers for the first time, recording 10,613,119 visitors.<ref name="OnlineReach">{{cite web|title=Regional newspaper website traffic brings relief to decline in print sales |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/28/regional-newspaper-website-traffic-decline-print|author=Halliday, Josh|date=28 August 2013|access-date=18 October 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>
In late 2025, The ''Manchester Evening News'' launched a paywall for the first time, but most of its content will remain accessible for free.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manchester Evening News launches paywall|url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/paywalls/manchester-evening-news-launches-online-paywall/|website=Press Gazette|date=2025-11-27|access-date=2025-12-02|language=en-US|first=Dominic|last=Ponsford}}</ref>
==Editions== {{More citations needed section|date=December 2022}} Despite its "evening" title, the newspaper began publication of a morning edition in November 2004, a controversial move which brought union members to the brink of strike action over new work rotas.
==="Football Green" and "Football Pink"=== For years the paper was famous for its "Football Green" edition. After the MEN merged with the rival ''Manchester Evening Chronicle'' in the 1960s, its more popular "Sporting Pink" was adopted as the "Football Pink". The "Football Pink" was first issued in 1904 as part of the ''Manchester Evening Chronicle'', which was owned by [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] chairman [[Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet]].
The "Green" and "Pink" names came from being printed in paper of those colours. In the 1970s the [[Saturday sports paper]] began using white newsprint, which had become by then the industry standard. The football results were added to a pre-printed newspaper using small presses in newspaper vans usually parked near the stadiums. The final edition of the "Football Pink" was dated 12 August 2000.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}
===MEN Lite=== In March 2005 the paper launched a cut-down afternoon version of the paper titled ''MEN Lite'', which was distributed free to commuters within Manchester's city centre.
===Part-free=== On 2 May 2006 the ''Evening News'' dropped the "Lite" edition in favour of a "part-free, part-paid" distribution model for the main paper. Copies were free in Manchester city centre, while readers outside that area continued to pay for the paper.
In December 2006, the paper also began free distribution at [[Manchester Airport]] and hospitals throughout [[Greater Manchester]].
In December 2009, the newspaper announced that as of January 2010 the paper would no longer be handed out free Monday to Wednesday in the city centre and other selected locations. Instead they would be handed out free as previously on Thursdays and Fridays, but would regain their paid-for status in these locations at all other times.
===''Manchester Weekly News''=== A free weekly version of the ''Manchester Evening News'', the ''Manchester Weekly News'', was launched 2 April 2015. The paper is delivered to over 265,000 homes in Greater Manchester.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}
===''City Life'' affiliation=== ''[[City Life (magazine)|City Life]]'', originally an independent political and cultural magazine for the Manchester area, was acquired by GMG in 1989. In December 2007, ''City Life'' ceased independent publication, subsequently becoming a 20-page supplement to the Friday issue of the ''Manchester Evening News.''<ref name="events_2007_02_17_manchestereveningnews">Donohue, Simon: [https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/city-life-hits-the-scene-with-live-1173424 "City Life hits the scene with live events"] 17 February 2007, updated 22 January 2013,''Manchester Evening News'' retrieved 25 June 2023</ref>
==See also== * ''[[Manchester Metro News]]'' – weekly sister paper * [[Murder of Lisa Hession]] – local case that has received considerable coverage by the paper as it was the current chief reporter's first murder case<ref>{{cite news |title=The case that haunts our chief reporter: The unsolved murder of Lisa Hession |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/case-haunts-chief-reporter-unsolved-25894722 |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Manchester Evening News |date=4 January 2023}}</ref>
==Former journalists== *[[George Orwell]] (1903–1950), author of ''[[Animal Farm]]'' (1945), and ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1949).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Qureshi |first=Yakub |date=2020-01-21 |title=Was working for the Manchester Evening News so bad that it made George Orwell write 1984? |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/working-manchester-evening-news-bad-12388741 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manchester Evening News |language=en}}</ref> *[[Harold Evans]] (1928–2020), later editor of ''[[The Sunday Times]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keeling |first=Neal |date=2020-09-24 |title=Sir Harold Evans, trailblazing newspaper editor and son of Salford, dies aged 92 |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/report-monday-manchester-evening-news-18988570 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manchester Evening News |language=en}}</ref> *[[Danny Brocklehurst]] (born 1971), screenwriter and playwright<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scullard |first=Vickie |date=2019-03-10 |title=From Tameside College to Netflix - how Danny Brocklehurst conquered television |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/danny-brockleburst-tameside-college-netflix-15944345 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manchester Evening News |language=en}}</ref>
==References== '''Notes''' {{Reflist|group=nb}}
'''References''' {{Reflist|30em}}
'''Bibliography''' {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Geoffrey|title=Changing Faces: A History of The Guardian 1956–88|publisher=Fourth Estate|year=1993|isbn=9781857021004}} {{Refend}}
==External links== * {{official website|http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk}} {{Clear}} {{Trinity Mirror}}
{{UK regional daily newspapers}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Newspapers published in Manchester]] [[Category:Newspapers established in 1868]] [[Category:1868 establishments in England]] [[Category:History of Manchester]] [[Category:Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Newspapers published by Reach plc]]