Ever since it was founded in the 19th century by a British army colonel, the Daily Telegraph has been a mainstay of the British press. Its perpetual loyalty to the Conservative party has earned it the nickname the ‘Torygraph’.
But its explosive reporting of the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009 threw parliament into disarray, ending numerous political careers on both sides of the house, with some MPs ending up in jail. It earlier built a reputation for war reporting, having been the first newspaper to report the outbreak of the second world war.
In recent weeks, as the author and media columnist Jane Martinson tells Nosheen Iqbal, the paper has been concerned with matters closer to home: the increasingly bitter tussle for control of the Telegraph itself, and the financial state of its owners, the secretive Barclay family.
It has thrown up big questions of who owns the media in Britain – and for what purpose.
Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters
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