Type Weekly Owner(s) Johnston Press Plc Editor Olga Norford | Format Tabloid Publisher Johnson Press Ltd Political alignment none | |
The Milton Keynes Citizen is the highest circulation freely distributed newspaper in Milton Keynes and at various points in its history (which dates back to October 1981) has been the largest not only in the UK but Europe. The newspaper is part of Johnston Press who also publish a mix of free and paid for titles across Beds, Herts and Bucks including two of the only remaining broadsheets in circulation – the Bucks Herald and the Hemel Gazette.
The MK Citizen was founded by two men who sold to EMAP in the early 1990s. Emap sold the paper on to Johnson Publishing in the 1990s.
The Milton Keynes Citizen is distributed freely across the Milton Keynes urban area and other towns and most villages of the borough on a Thursday, as well as having a more limited circulation Tuesday sister paper, Citizen First which is distributed on Tuesdays (this was formerly the Citizen on Sunday but changed when MK News launched on Wednesdays). The Thursday edition of the paper contains the most news, as well as a double-page letters section and a 'news from around the villages' section detailing events in the various towns and villages within the Milton Keynes district. The Tuesday edition contains less news, with a large amount of the paper being made up of adverts. There is also a property paper which is distributed weekly by the Citizen.
The paper's main print competitor is the MK News, part of LSN Media ltd.