WALES’ new national news service, The National Wales, launches today.

The title was given the go-ahead for a St David’s Day launch earlier this year.

Editor, Gavin Thompson said: “Wales has a population of 3.1 million people, it has its own Parliament, language, and culture, yet lacks a broad and varied national media providing news from a Welsh perspective.

“There’s a strong local media, with Newsquest, Reach, Tindle and others publishing trusted local and regional titles. But when compared with Scotland — where there is The Herald and The National (both Newsquest titles), plus the Daily Record, the Scotsman, Sunday Post and more, and where even the English-based nationals such as the Sun, Daily Mail and Times have strong Scottish editions — Wales is poorly served.

“This has never been clearer than throughout the coronavirus pandemic, where Wales has often plotted a different course to England yet many here take their news from English sources.

“The journey began with a crowdfunded campaign by independent organisation New Media Wales to deliver what it defined as a truly national news service for Wales.

“Initially planning to go it alone, its research made it clear the costs would be prohibitively high.

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“That’s when those behind New Media Wales approached Newsquest to see if we would take up the challenge.

“The reason this is possible for Newsquest, and wasn’t for New Media Wales alone, is our size.

“We have created three new roles, one audience and content editor and two digital reporters. That’s a significant investment but one we can back up with our existing reporters across Wales who already produce brilliant content for their local titles, some of which can be developed for a national audience.”

The National launch edition is on sale today and the digital service can be found at thenational.wales.