The Times
![]() | |
![]() | |
Type | Daily newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Compact |
Owner(s) | 21st Century Fox (owned by News America News Corp & Walt Disney Entertainment Group) |
Editor | TBA |
Founded | 1 January 1785 | (as The Daily Universal Register)
Headquarters | The News Building (London) |
Country | United Kingdom and Scotland |
Circulation | 417,298 (Print, 2019) 220,000 (Digital, 2018) |
Sister newspapers | The Sunday Times |
Website | www.thetimes.co.uk |
The Times is a British daily (Monday to Saturday) national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News America, in turn wholly owned by 21st Century Fox. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently, and have only had common ownership since 1967.
In 1959, the historian of journalism Allan Nevins analysed the importance of The Times in shaping the views of events of London's elite:
For much more than a century The Times has been an integral and important part of the political structure of Great Britain. Its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its whole emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in close touch with 10 Downing Street.
The Times is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, such as The Times of India and The New York Times. In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London, although the newspaper is of national scope and distribution.
The Times is the originator of the widely used Times Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of The Times in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation for its legibility in low-tech printing. In November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, but switched to compact size in 2004 in an attempt to appeal more to younger readers and commuters using public transport. The Sunday Times remains a broadsheet.
The Times had an average daily circulation of 417,298 in January 2019; in the same period, The Sunday Times had an average weekly circulation of 712,291. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006. The Times has been heavily used by scholars and researchers because of its widespread availability in libraries and its detailed index. A complete historical file of the digitised paper, up to 2010, is online from Gale Cengage Learning, another News Corp property.
The newspaper is part of the News America group of News Corp, which also owns newspapers such as the The Seattle Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Druayan Post.