The National was founded by Huw Marshall, who wanted to "challenge the dominant incumbents who provide news from a UK perspective".

[7] Thompson said the media landscape in Wales struggled to match that of Scotland, where the public have the choice between several national newspaper titles as well as Scottish editions of UK papers.

It's really been very stark during the Covid pandemic where a large number of people take their news from sources that are writing it from an English perspective.

In his review of the paper, he urged it to take an explicitly pro-Welsh independence editorial stance in order to exploit a "real gap in the Welsh media market".

He added, "I'll watch its progress with interest, but I can't help but wonder whether the real gap in the Welsh media market – a niche identified by Newsquest some years ago with daily newspaper The National in Scotland – is for a national title that supports Welsh independence, particularly as the cross-party YesCymru movement has seen such a surge of interest in recent months.