The History of the Daily Mirror

The history of the Daily Mirror is a long and turbulent one wrought with both failures and successes.

The Daily Mirror was the idea of Alfred Harmsworth. Harmsworth was born in 1865 into a comfortable environment. Whilst failing in his studies he successfully worked for a magazines until 1886 where at the age of 21 he stole some paper and launched his own magazine called Answers. This magazine was shamelessly modelled after the commercially successful Tit-bits.

Harmsworth skilfully used competitions and cash prizes to boost circulation and eventually after months of planning and testing the Daily Mail was launched in 1896.

The Daily Mail was created to capture a brand new audience, the young literate working class with little time and energy, the paper would have articles no more than 250 words. This was to allow it to be interesting yet sufficiently simple for the working man. On the first day of publication sales far exceeded expectations and immediately turned a substantial profit. The Daily Mail used such cash prizes and competitions like its predecessor but also innovated in other ways including a woman’s column. 

The woman’s section proved so popular that the Daily Mirror was created, to be written by and for women. In preparation to the launch of the new paper it was given a lavish advertising campaign which included large advertisements in the Daily Mail. The Mirror was launched with high hopes but sales quickly plummeted after the first day. The paper was an unmitigated disaster and what’s more; an embarrassment. 

The Daily Mirror sold so poorly that it ate into the profits of the Daily Mail and risked destroying both papers in the process. After so much capital had been invested, Northcliffe couldn’t simply ahandon the paper or shut it down lest it take his Emprie with it. He hired … who immediately fired the entire female writing staff.

The paper was renamed ‘The Illustrated Daily Mirror’ but in print simply ‘Illustrated Mirror.’ In 1904 the Mirror was relaunched as a picture paper, pictures of the royals tripled the paper’s circulation overnight and a year after relaunch the circulation was almost 300,000.

The new mirror was designed to be even easier to read than the Daily Mail, to entertain people on the way to work, ‘to prevent them from thinking.’

The Mirror was responsible for, at least in part for allowing cameras to become more portable and film that required less exposure time. Mirror photographers were encouraged into dangerous situations and as such were the first to accomplish many feats such as flying aboard a zeppelin airship.

The Mirror’s greatest scoop was King Edward VII’s deathbed pictures, these proved so incredibly popular that it broke circulation figures for the time selling over 2 million copies.

However despite commercial success, by 1905 was badly regarded. At this point photographers were thought of as ghouls as they would often appear at places of tradegy taking pictures. With the Mirror being a picture paper their image suffered.

Yet on the outbreak of World War 1 the paper’s circulation and reputation were given a massive boost. Circulation quickly rose to 500,000 within the first year of the war as the public enjoyed seeing a glimpse of the war whilst the soldiers on the front lines appreciated the escapist glimpses of home the paper provided. After the war the Mirror continued strongly with a newly earned reputation as a reliable paper with good circulation figures.

1922 was a n eventful year with the death of Lord Northcliffe and the Free Gift War. The Free Gift War was essentially as it sounds, each newspaper giving away items to entice buyers. It was a form of mutually assured destruction which sot the national papers £3 million a year, destroying the industry.

In 1931 the Mirror and the other two papers Rothermere had inherited were converted to fascism. The paper supported Hitler’s efforts overseas and the efforts of the growing British Fascists throughout the UK.

In 1933 in response to the efforts of the Mail and Mirror, Hitler a letter to Rothermere thanking him for all he has done.

In 1934 all of Rothermere’s papers quickly dropped their fascist slant. This was simply due to the loss of ad revenue by large Jewish run enterprises. This sudden drop of support was a severe blow to the British Fascists whose membership decreased by almost 90% within a year.

However Rothermere remained a fascists and anti-Semite at heart and firmly believed till the end of his life that Britain should have sided with Germany.

When Bart took over the Mirror, circulation had dropped from 2 million to 800,000 losing 100,000 readers annually.

Harry Guy Bartholomew or ‘Bart’ had joined the Mirror in 1904  as photographic technican. He created the Bartlane system with Captain McFarlane of New York’s ‘Daily News.’ This system allowed photos to be transmitted by radio in minutes or hours rather than days or weeks.

The Mirror underwent many changes as it strived to boost circulation. It changed to become like US tabloids with comics. This alone helped lead to a monthly increase in circulation. Under Bart, Cudlipp introduces readers letters and an agony aunt among other things all of which helped to reinvigorate reader interest in the paper and conintue to boost circulation.

The Mirror’s coverage of a child abuse case almost cuases a man to lynched as over 2,000 people assaulted his home. Sales increased sharply and the Mirror continued the stratedgy of bold, exaggerated articles.

After Bart fire King, Cudlipp betrays Bart by leaving with King. Bart is outraged but can do nothing to stop him leaving.

In 1938 with the outbreak of World War 2 fast approaching King and Cudlipp meet with Churchill to plan a political campaign against appeasement. Chuchhill is signed up as a columnist for both the Mirror and the Sunday Pictorial.

When war breaks out again Cudlipp is conscripted and ended up editing an army paper called the ‘Union Jack’ which served as propaganda and a morale boost.

Meanwhile in 1942 the Mirror is almost shut down after publishing a highly controversial cartoon, the paper barely survives.

After the war the Mirror successfully swings votes to Labour by targeting soldiers’ wives whom they expected would be voting for their husbands overseas.

Bart is eventually betrayed and forced out of the Mirror, he dies a few months later.