Daily Star

About Daily Star

The Daily Star is a British national daily tabloid newspaper published in London from Monday to Saturday, specialising in celebrity news, sport and showbusiness stories. Founded in Manchester in 1978 as a northern offshoot of the Daily Express, it grew into a national title in its own right and became known for its cheeky, irreverent tone, its "Star Bird" glamour models and its tabloid coverage of television, soap operas and reality TV. Since 2018 it has been owned by Reach plc, the publisher of the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express.

Founding in Manchester

The Daily Star was created in 1978 as part of Express Newspapers, which was then owned by Trafalgar House, in order to use printing presses that were running under capacity as the Daily Express lost circulation. When the paper was launched from Manchester on 2 November 1978, it circulated only in the North and the Midlands. It was conceived to take on the strength of the Daily Mirror and The Sun in the north of England. The first night's print run of 1,400,000 copies sold out. Within a year the Star had expanded beyond its northern base and become a genuinely national newspaper.

Express Newspapers and Northern & Shell

The Daily Star remained part of the Express Newspapers stable alongside the Daily Express and the Sunday Express. In 2000 the whole group was acquired by Richard Desmond's company Northern & Shell. Desmond, who had made his fortune in adult publishing and owned Channel 5, invested in the titles while also cutting costs aggressively. Under his ownership the Star's cover price was reduced over the years in order to compete with its rival The Sun, and the paper carved out a distinctive identity as the most light-hearted of the national red-tops.

Acquisition by Reach

On 9 February 2018 Trinity Mirror agreed to acquire the publishing assets of Northern & Shell in a deal worth £126.7 million, bringing the Daily Star and the Daily Express under the same ownership as the Daily Mirror. To coincide with the purchase, Trinity Mirror changed its corporate name to Reach plc. The deal united tabloids from opposite ends of the political spectrum: the left-leaning Mirror and the right-leaning Express, with the Star sitting between them as a largely apolitical, entertainment-driven title. Richard Desmond took an 8.6 per cent stake in the enlarged group and £107 million in cash.

Editorial character and content

The Daily Star has predominantly focused on stories revolving around celebrities, sport, and news and gossip about popular television programmes, such as soap operas and reality TV shows. In recent years it has also criticised what it describes as "woke" culture. The paper's leader column, "The Daily Star Says", appears most days on page six. Regular features have included Wired, a daily gossip column edited by James Cabooter, "Hot TV", a television news column edited by Ed Gleave and Peter Dyke, Mike Ward's weekly television review page, and "Forum", a daily page of readers' text messages. Until his death in 2012, the chief football writer was Brian Woolnough, lured from The Sun in 2001 for a £200,000 pay packet.

The Star Bird

For more than 40 years the newspaper regularly featured a photograph of a topless glamour model, called a "Star Bird", on weekdays, in a similar vein to The Sun's former Page 3 feature. The feature discovered some well-known models, most notably Rachel ter Horst in 1993 and Lucy Pinder in 2003. The paper's glamour photographer was Jeany Savage. In April 2019 the paper said it had stopped publishing topless models on its third page in favour of clothed glamour images, claiming to be the last mainstream British tabloid to discontinue the tradition after The Sun ended its own Page 3 feature in 2015.

Daily Star Sunday

On 15 September 2002 a sister Sunday edition, the Daily Star Sunday, was launched with a separate staff. The launch was the first new tabloid to enter the market in more than 12 years, and it was aimed at the 400,000 Daily Star readers who did not buy a Sunday newspaper. It launched with a reduced 35p cover price, almost half that of its rivals. On 6 May 2020 the Star published its 10,000th issue. The Irish Daily Star, formerly known simply as The Star, is a separate Irish edition also owned by Reach plc, known for its crime coverage and redtop masthead.

Editors

The Star has had a succession of editors over its nearly five decades. Dawn Neesom was promoted to the editorship in December 2003 after the previous editor, Peter Hill, moved to the Daily Express; she had been an executive on the paper in charge of features. As of 2025 the editor is Ben Rankin, who holds the title of Editor in Chief. The paper is published from Reach plc's headquarters at One Canada Square in London's Canary Wharf.

Circulation

The Daily Star's print circulation has followed the familiar downward trajectory of the British tabloid press. In December 2016 its average daily circulation was 440,471; by October 2019 it had fallen to 292,395; and as of September 2025 it stood at 97,878. The paper has compensated in part through its website, dailystar.co.uk, which publishes celebrity, showbiz and sport stories continuously. The Star remains a daily tabloid in format, published from Monday to Saturday, with the Daily Star Sunday completing the seven-day offering.
The Star's journalistic style is deliberately irreverent. Its headlines are famous for their puns and double entendres, and it has cultivated a reputation as the paper that takes showbiz seriously and everything else with a wink. During major news events, from royal weddings to World Cups, the Star has distinguished itself by leading with entertainment angles where its rivals lead with hard news, a formula that has won it a loyal, if niche, readership.

Political stance

Unlike its rivals, the Daily Star has historically been largely uninterested in politics, and its political alignment is now described as neutral, though it was historically sympathetic to Labour. Its front pages are devoted to entertainment, celebrity and sport rather than Westminster intrigue, and it has made a virtue of its light-hearted, irreverent tone, branding itself with the slogan "News with a Wink". During general elections the paper has avoided the partisan endorsements that characterise the Mirror, the Sun, the Mail and the Telegraph.
The Star's apolitical character has occasionally been tested by events. During the Brexit referendum and subsequent general elections, the paper largely stuck to its entertainment brief, a stance that distinguished it from every other national daily. Its readers, the paper's editors have long argued, buy the Star to be entertained, not lectured, and the title's refusal to moralise is central to its appeal.
The paper's website, dailystar.co.uk, has extended that appeal to a digital audience, with showbiz, TV and sport stories updated through the day. Like its print edition, the site trades on the Star's irreverent tone, competing for attention in the crowded online celebrity-news market.

Outlook

The Daily Star occupies a distinctive niche as Britain's least serious national newspaper, trading on humour and showbiz rather than political influence. Under Reach plc it shares a corporate parent with the Mirror and the Express, but it retains its own editorial character. Its future, like that of the rest of the red-top press, depends on converting print loyalists and digital audiences into sustainable revenue as the economics of celebrity journalism move increasingly online.