Daily Express (Urdu newspaper)
The Daily Express is a Pakistani Urdu-language newspaper owned by Lakson Group.
It is published simultaneously from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan and Sukkar.
History
Lakson Group launched Daily Express in 1998 with a novel approach to newspaper distribution in Pakistan, headquartered in Lahore instead of the conventional hub, Karachi. This decision was underpinned by an assertion that Punjab province, with Lahore as its capital, housed more Urdu newspaper readers than Karachi. This hypothesis proved accurate as the Daily Express quickly amassed a receptive readership in the region.The publication's innovative approach continued with the decision to distribute not only from major metropolitan areas such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad, but also from secondary cities in Punjab, including Multan, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Rahim Yar Khan. This move resonated with readers in these areas who favored locally-focused news over content from more remote cities.
The Daily Express also adopted a strategy of offering competitive salaries to columnists with substantial established readerships. As a result, many influential columnists transitioned from established newspapers such as Daily Jang and Nawa-i-Waqt, bringing their loyal readers along with them.
The timing of the Daily Expresss launch was fortuitous, aligning with a dispute between the Jang Group, Pakistan's oldest and largest newspaper group, and then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government in the late 1990s. This led to financial and other constraints on the Daily Jang, which, in turn, provided an opening for the Daily Express to gain substantial readership, particularly in Punjab.