Daily News chalks up 100 years | Page 4413 | Daily News

Daily News chalks up 100 years

The Ceylon Daily News, or Daily News, to our readers, chalks up 100 years today.

This is a rare milestone in any field of activity, more so for a newspaper whose survival depended on the marketability of the product and the goodwill of the readership.

It has been a rewarding journey, though not without its own share of obstacles restrictions and setbacks.Being a state owned newspaper it had been a careful balancing act that the Daily News had to perform if the credibility of the newspaper were to be preserved and the faith of the readership retained . That it has fulfilled this task with success is borne out by the response received from the readership and in the healthy statistics in our circulation.

This , in the face of stiff competition with other publications which practise the trade in a less restrained environment and are more at liberty to venture out into controversy and sensationalism.

A century is a long time in the existence of a newspaper.Even in the liberalised West we hear of newspapers folding up due to dwindling readership and financial restraints .The long running BBC recently laid out staff and cut down on its programme content due to reasons of financial instability .In that sense how the Daily News survived for 100 long years with only a miniscule fraction of the population comprising the English readership should provide an interesting study.

That it has withstood the test of time and emerged to the fore as the leading publication in the country among the English speaking readership is a testament to its resilience and dynamism that any newspaper could be proud of.

The newspaper ,no doubt, owes its success to the giants in the field of English journalism of the past whose skills with the pen took the paper to the far reaches across the country and went onto earn a niche for itself as the leading publication of the day.

The Daily News even today boasts of a skilled and enterprising staff who endeavour to provide our readership with a quality newspaper at all times.It has evolved over the decades whereby product has improved with the introduction varied topics and features catering to a diverse and critical readership.

The newspaper strives to provide a balanced coverage on all subjects and controversial topics, and, though a state managed entity, always provides space for the other side and accommodates views that are critical of the government.

As it steps into the next century, the Daily News will endeavour to maintain its quality and excellence and provide our readership with absorbing news, feature articles and material on diverse topics and entertainment. 


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