[1] For the first fifty years it was a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles, but from 1865 it repeatedly changed hands and political allegiance, resulting in a rapid decline in readership and loss of purpose.

While The Examiner was in the hands of John and Leigh Hunt, the sub-title was "A Sunday paper, on politics, domestic economy, and theatricals",[2] and the newspaper devoted itself to providing independent reports on each of these areas.

A tradition of publishing accurate news and witty criticisms of domestic and foreign politics was continued by Albany Fonblanque, who took over the paper in 1828.

Until Fonblanque sold The Examiner in the mid-1860s, the newspaper took the form of a sixteen-page journal priced at 6d, designed to be kept and repeatedly referred to.

Although its tradition of radical intellectual commentaries was revived in the 1870s under the editorship of William Minto, The Examiner was repeatedly sold until the final edition appeared in February 1881.