Newspaper Rivalry in Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1876-1919: 'Dicky Birds' and 'Golden Circles'
Author: Milton, Frederick S.1
Source: Northern History, Volume 46, Number 2, September 2009 , pp. 277-291(15)
Publisher: Maney Publishing
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Abstract:
Newspaper children's columns first appeared in the 1870s. However, they have been largely overlooked by academic studies of education, children's literature and the newspaper Press. This latter resource has provided rich veins of material for scholars looking for affirmation of contemporary events. The 'miscellaneous' contents of this source, and particularly that of the provincial weeklies, have been largely ignored. This study analyses the development of children's columns in two weekly newspapers, the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle and the Northern Weekly Leader. Both of these newspapers launched societies attached to their children's columns, the 'Dicky Bird Society', which ran until 1940 and the 'Golden Circle', which ceased in 1919. During their existence, these two societies enrolled nearly half a million members, who were then engaged in activities ranging from charitable collections to nature conservation work. Such numbers support the argument that children's columns were a vital element of the popular Press and were more than simply miscellaneous features. These features played a vital commercial role for their respective titles in their adversarial circulation battles by creating a community of readers at an early age.Keywords: NEWSPAPER; NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE; CHILDREN; DICKY BIRD SOCIETY; NEWCASTLE WEEKLY CHRONICLE; NORTHERN WEEKLY LEADER
Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1179/174587009X452341
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