Cyprus Mail’s new website will upgrade a proud media legacy
A momentous eight-decade journey that takes in Hitler, Helios and the haircut, as well as Covid the pandemic and Covid the cat!
Over the last year, the Cyprus Mail team has listened to your feedback, worked hard to understand your needs, and reimagined its digital presence to reflect both the legacy of journalism and the future of the media.
Welcome to the new website which we will be launching on Wednesday.
Today, around 1.5 million people view the Mail online each month. Over half of those are from the diaspora, with huge amounts of readers in Britain, Australia, Greece, America, Canada and South Africa. With our new website we are determined to expand our reach even further.
Everything you know and love will remain. But there will also be an improved user experience, new categories and an intuitive interface that blends tradition and innovation. The new mobile app is not live as of Wednesday, May 22 but will be available very soon. In the meantime, please visit us at www.cyprus-mail.com
The new website isn’t just a facelift; it’s a complete evolution of how the Mail brings you the news, with accessibility and user experience at the forefront of the redesign.
State-of-the-art features will make it easier than ever to find the stories that matter to you. From in-depth analyses and breaking news to feature pieces that capture the essence of life in Cyprus and beyond, content is being optimised for readability across all devices.
It’s been a very long road since our humble beginnings on Friday, November 2, 1945, when the Cyprus Mail launched its first ever edition.
Costing just one piastre (about 5 cents), it contained 18 short articles. And, as a result of WWII paper rationing, it was printed on one sheet.
With headlines including ‘HITLER’S END (OFFICIAL)’, and ‘LESS CHEESE?’ (concerning the recent kaskavali purchase by one Mr Goldwasser, and its consequent export to Palestine), the journey had begun.
Within a few months, one sheet had become four. Then eight, then 16.
In the beginning, news was gathered by reporters out on the beat: journalists who hurried from place to place and phoned in their copy. Or it came from the wire, a ticker-tape sort of machine from services such as Reuters.
Editors decided which stories to run and where, writing headlines and sub-heads and determining layout. Proof-readers checked the final copy. Type was set by hand. And back-office staff, advertisers, and distributors worked around the clock to hit the daily deadline.
Back then, the entire paper was printed overnight on a huge, manual press in the basement of the Mail’s offices, ready to be distributed across the island (and beyond) before sunrise. But in time, printing was outsourced; electronic typesetting took over; and computers helped streamline many of the processes.
The digital era had arrived!
In 1996, the Cyprus Mail was the very first daily paper on the island to go online.
Starting with just a few key articles, the site quickly grew into a comprehensive digital platform. Now, readers could digitally access the news of the day.
Amongst the site’s most-viewed online articles were 2004’s ‘Greeks celebrate yes, Turks celebrate no’ in the aftermath of the Annan plan; the 2005 tragedy ‘121 killed in Helios air crash’; and the harrowing Mari disaster of July 2011.
March 2013 saw the Mail document the haircut that shook the island to its core. In 2017, numbers soared for the Crans-Montana peace talks. And, in March 2020, thousands read the story on Cyprus’ first Covid cases…
Approximately 500 articles are published each week. Journalists and contributors in countries around the world work their hardest to break news and find unique stories. And the Cyprus Mail online is read by people in countries as far afield as Panama, Poland and Palau.
What began as a simple website almost 30 years ago has now become a premier news outlet. New roles have developed (the Mail has a dedicated environment editor, social media specialists and we’ve also taken on board the challenging, but exciting, world of AI). The offices have moved from the old town to brand new premises on the main Nicosia road. And several rescue cats (including the much-loved ‘Covid’, adopted during the early days of the pandemic and now our in-house feline) have found their forever homes at the Cyprus Mail!
In the coming months, the Mail’s multimedia offerings will expand. And its commitment to fostering a community of informed citizens will be enhanced by comment sections and social media integration that encourage dialogue and interaction among readers.
And though we’re a small team, every one of us is committed to bringing you quality journalism.
In our almost 80 years of operation, the Mail has chronicled the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and decades of negotiations. It’s reported on a myriad of captivating scandals, murders, and human interest stories.
It’s outlasted its local English language competitors, and continues to bring the momentous (and not so momentous) happenings of the island to people both near and far.
The Cyprus Mail is a media legacy. It was here for your grandparents. For your fathers and mothers. And, without doubt, it will be here for your children.
Thank you for being on this journey with us.
Website: www.cyprus-mail.com