Manchester Evening News

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. The newspaper is owned by Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror),^[2] one of Britain's largest newspaper publishing groups.

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.

The Manchester Evening News was first published on 10 October 1868 by Mitchell Henry as part of his parliamentary election campaign, its first issue four pages long and costing a halfpenny. The newspaper was run from a small office on Brown Street, with approximately a dozen staff. 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." Henry's quote is displayed on the entrance wall to the newspaper's modern offices.

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. 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).

In 1936, John Russell Scott formed the Scott Trust in order to protect the company from death duties, following the deaths of his father and younger brother Ted in close succession. 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."

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. By 1939 the publication was the largest provincial evening newspaper in the country. 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."

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. Following this, the Manchester Evening News's circulation increased to over 480,000.

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, lunchtime and late evening, a weekly review programme, and also occasional live specials.