Archant is a publishing company, based in Norwich, England, United Kingdom. The group publishes four daily newspapers, around 75 weekly newspapers, and 75 consumer and contract magazines.
The Group employs around 2600 employees mainly in East Anglia, the Home Counties and the West Country and was known as Eastern Counties Newspapers, until March 2002.
The company began publishing in Norwich in 1845 with Norfolk News, backed by Jacob Henry Tillet, Jeremiah Colman, John Copeman and Thomas Jarrold. The Colman and Copeman families still retain close involvement in the business.
The Eastern Weekly Press was launched in 1867 and in 1870 was renamed the Eastern Daily Press. A sister title, the Eastern Evening News was launched in 1882. As the business grew it moved premises in 1902, 1959 and again in the late 1960s to its present headquarters location at Prospect House in the centre of Norwich.
At the end of the 1960s, Eastern Counties Newspapers began its corporate expansion with the coming together of ECN with the East Anglian Daily Times Company to form Eastern Counties Newspapers Group (ECNG).