The Ottawa Citizen (established 1845) is an English-language daily newspaper owned by CanWest Global in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper has a circulation of 141,540.

The newspaper was established by William Harris as the Bytown Packet and was renamed the Citizen in 1851. Its original motto, which has recently been returned to the editorial page, was Fair play and Day-Light.

The paper has been through a number of owners. In 1846 Harris sold the paper to John Bell and Henry Friel . Bell brought out his partner in 1849. In 1877 Charles Herbert Macintosh , the editor under Bell, became publisher. In 1879 it became one of several papers owned by the Southam Family. It remained under Southam Control until Southam itself was purchased by Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc.. In 2000 Black sold most of his Canadian holdings to CanWest Global.

The editorial view of the Citizen has varied with its ownership, taking a reform, anti-tory position under Harris and a conservative position under Bell. Under the Southams it moved to the left, supporting the liberals largely in opposition to Conservative support of free trade. It firmly established itself as a Conservative paper under Conrad Black.

Following the purchase of the paper by CanWest Global, its publisher Russell Mills was fired for allowing an anti-Liberal editorial to be published in the paper.

External links

• Ottawa Citizen website

• Canadian Newspaper Association

Bibliography

Adam, Mohamed.(January 2, 2005).When we began 1845: For 160 years, the Citizen has been the 'heartbeat of the community'. Ottawa Citizen

Bruce, Charles. News and the Southams. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1968

Kesterton, W.H.. A History of Journalism in Canada. Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press, 1984. ISBN 0886290228.

Rutherford,Paul. A Victorian authority: the daily press in late nineteenth-century Canada. Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1982. ISBN 0802055885 DDC 71.1 LCC PN4907