North Devon Journal

It was founded in 1824. In 1941 it amalgamated with The North Devon Herald, which had been established in 1870, and from then until 1986 appeared as The North Devon Journal-Herald before resuming its earlier title. It absorbed one other title, in 1954: The Ilfracombe Chronicle, founded in 1861.

It’s published by Cornwall & Devon Media Ltd, a branch of Northcliffe Media, which used to be the regional division of the Daily Mail & General Trust but which in November 2012 became the major constituent of the new Local World group. The editorial offices are in Barnstaple.

There are four local editions, in descending order of circulation size (as of 2013):

• Barnstaple (which sells considerably more copies than the other editions put together)
• Bideford
• Ilfracombe
• Holsworthy

All four come out on Thursdays.

Initially the NDJ‘s web presence was via Northcliffe’s thisisnorthdevon.co.uk website, which was the NDJ‘s own website until 2011 but then became a local portal site for which the NDJ was merely a news supplier. However, new owners Local World announced in April 2013 that they would be launching “publisher-branded” websites for their newspapers to run alongside the Northcliffe thisis….co.uk and …people.co.uk portals; the NDJ site was launched in May 2013.