Newspaper of record
A "newspaper of record" is a colloquial term that generally refers to a newspaper that meets one (or both) of two criteria:
- high standards of journalism, the articles of which establish a definitive record of current events, for use by future scholars, and/or
- compliance with the legal requirements necessary to be recognized by the government as permitted to carry public or legal notices and have the notices be recognized as being made public by publication in that newspaper. Newspapers qualifying under this provision are sometimes also referred to as a newspaper of public record.
In its more common meaning, a newspaper of record is generally any public newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and typically unbiased.
Newspapers of record are usually found internationally at newsstands as representative of the publishing country's news. In some countries, newspapers of record may be the only ones that schoolchildren, particularly those in private schools, may quote from, or even be seen with in school. Newspapers of record generally have strong editors and proprietors and are allowed to hold independent views from those of their proprietor.
Controversy
Some editors of top Western newspapers consider the term obsolete and meaningless, when used in its strict, "record keeping" meaning. In that meaning, the term is considered a legacy of a time when newspapers were required to print official bulletins, shipping schedules and the like, before the advent of the more literary forms of modern journalism. Daniel Okrent, the public editor of the New York Times (which claims to have invented the term "newspaper of record" in 1927) wrote on April 25, 2004[1] that his paper is no longer a newspaper of record, and that this change is to be welcomed. In his view, the journalism of a "newspaper of record" is "as much stenography as reporting, as much virtual reprinting of handouts (in the form of verbatim transcripts of unexceptional speeches) as provocative journalism." John Geddes, the managing editor of the New York Times, expressed this even more strongly: "I don't think there can be a 'paper of record.' The term implies an omniscient chronicler of events, an arbiter that perfectly captures the significance and import of a day in our lives. I don't work at that place."
Broadsheet, compact and tabloid
In a number of countries newspapers of record have generally been broadsheet, although now some of these publications have switched or are planning to switch to a tabloid/compact format, partially as a cost-cutting measure but also to appeal more to the commuter (as the smaller sizes are more suitable to reading on public transport).
List of newspapers of record
Newspapers generally considered "newspapers of record" include (classified by language):
Newspapers of record in English, by country
- The Australian: National
- The Australian Financial Review: Sydney
- The Age: Melbourne
- The Sydney Morning Herald: Sydney
- The Globe and Mail: Toronto
- The Toronto Star: Canada's highest circulating paper
- The Hindu: Chennai (main base)
- The Hindustan Times: Delhi (main base)
- The Times of India: Mumbai (main base)
- The Asian Age: Mumbai (main base)
- The Indian Express: Delhi (main base)
- Deccan Herald: Bangalore (main base)
- The Telegraph: Kolkata (main base)
- The Economic Times: Mumbai (main base)
- The Daily Star: Beirut, printed and distributed with the International Herald Tribune
- Philippine Daily Inquirer: Makati City
- Manila Bulletin: Manila
- Manila Standard Today: Manila
- Manila Times: Manila
- Philippine Star: Manila
- Traditionally, The Times: London has been considered as "without rival, the paper of record" (and gave its name to a typeface)
- The Daily Telegraph: London has also been considered the "other paper of record"
- The Guardian: London
- The Independent: London
- Financial Times: London (main base)
- The Scotsman: Edinburgh, "Scotland's national newspaper"
- The Herald: Glasgow
- The Western Mail: Cardiff, "The national newspaper of Wales".
- The Belfast Telegraph: Belfast, moderate Unionist
- The News Letter: Belfast, Unionist (the oldest English language newspaper still in publication in the world, founded in 1737)
- The Irish News: Belfast, moderate Nationalist
Because of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as Near v. Minnesota, the government does not (and can not) define certain papers as having a right to print or otherwise restrict or license newspapers. Therefore, in the U.S. a newspaper of record is generally any public newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and typically unbiased. This is why, for example, despite its having a large circulation, a newspaper such as The National Enquirer is not considered a newspaper of record (its news-gathering functions are not considered professional nor are its stories considered unbiased), while a paper such as the Boston Globe, with a much smaller circulation, is considered a newspaper of record. Most U.S. daily newspapers having a publication of 500,000 or 1,000,000 and above would qualify as newspapers of record.
- The Boston Globe: Boston
- Chicago Tribune: Chicago
- Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles
- The New York Times: New York City
- The Wall Street Journal: New York City (business and economics)
- The Washington Post: Washington
Others
- International Herald Tribune: Paris in France (main base)
Newspapers of record in Arabic, by country
International
- ': Jerusalem
Newspapers of record in Dutch, by country
Newspapers of record in French, by country
- L'Orient-Le Jour: Beirut
Newspapers of record in German, by country
- Die Presse: Vienna
- Der Standard: Vienna
- Wiener Zeitung: Vienna The World's Oldest Newspaper
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Frankfurt
- Süddeutsche Zeitung: Munich
- Frankfurter Rundschau: Frankfurt
- Die Tageszeitung: Berlin
- Der Tagesspiegel: Berlin
- Die Welt: Hamburg
- Die Zeit: Hamburg
Newspapers of record in Spanish, by country
- El Mercurio: Santiago in Chile
Chinese newspapers of record
- China Times: Taipei in the Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Ming Pao: Chai Wan in Hong Kong
Danish newspapers of record
Finnish newspapers of record
Greek newspapers of record
Hebrew newspapers of record
Italian newspapers of record
- Corriere della Sera: Milan in Italy
- La Repubblica: Rome in Italy
- La Stampa: Turin in Italy
Japanese newspapers of record
- Asahi Shimbun: Tokyo in Japan
- Yomiuri Shimbun: Tokyo in Japan
Korean newspapers of record
Norwegian newspapers of record
- Aftenposten: Oslo in Norway
Swedish newspapers of record
Polish newspapers of record
Portuguese newspapers of record
- Expresso: Lisbon
- Público: Lisbon
- Jornal de Notícias: Porto
- Diário de Notícias: Lisbon
- Diário de Notícias: Lisbon
Turkish newspapers of record
Urdu newspapers of record
- Daily Jang: Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan
References
- ^ THE PUBLIC EDITOR; Paper of Record? No Way, No Reason, No Thanks, The New York Times, 25 April 2004