Belfast Telegraph

It was first published as the Belfast Evening Telegraph on 1 September 1870 by brothers William and George Baird. Its first edition cost half a penny and ran to four pages covering the Franco-Prussian War and local news.

The evening edition of the newspaper was originally called the "Sixth Late", and "Sixth Late Tele" was a familiar cry made by vendors in Belfast city centre in the past. Local editions were published for distribution to Enniskillen, Dundalk, Newry, and Derry.^{[citation needed]}

Its competitors are The News Letter and The Irish News, and local editions of London-based red tops also compete in this market, in some cases selling at a cheaper price than the "Tele".^{[citation needed]}

Sometimes described as having "unionist leanings",^[7] and operating an editorial policy supportive of "moderate unionism",^[8] the Belfast Telegraph was bought by the Dublin-based Independent News & Media group in March 2000.^[9]

The Belfast Telegraph was entirely broadsheet until 19 February 2005, when the Saturday morning edition was introduced and all Saturday editions were converted to compact.^[10] The weekday morning compact edition was launched on 22 March 2005.^[11]

In 2015, the Telegraph launched the magazine supplement Family Life.^[12]

The paper now publishes two editions daily, Belfast Telegraph final edition and the North West Telegraph which is distributed in Derry.

Its editor, since April 2020, is Eoin Brannigan.^[1]

The Belfast Telegraph was named as Best UK Regional Newspaper of the Year 2012 by the Society of Editors Regional Press Awards.^[13]

Reflecting a decline in newspaper sales generally, circulation of the Belfast Telegraph has declined as of the early 21st century, from 109,571 for the period July to December 2002,^[14] to 31,340 for the same period in 2019.^[15]

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