South Australia's Daily Herald was ground-breaking. The South Australian branch of the Labor Party, like its counterparts in the other states, had for some years hoped to have the resources to produce a daily newspaper - as the national body tried to do for many years. In 1910, with an election looming, it was decided to take a risk and turn the Weekly Herald into the Daily Herald. This was the first metropolitan daily Labor newspaper in Australia, just two years after Broken Hill's Barrier Truth became Australia's first Labor daily. In its initial years the newspaper reached a circulation of almost 20,000.

At the time there were two other two morning daily newspapers in Adelaide - the Register and the Advertiser. The Register was very much the conservative newspaper, while the Advertiser was only a degree less conservative. The Daily Herald took a genuinely socialist stance, entering fully into the fray during such industrial issues as the drivers' strike and a strike of contractors asphalting Rundle Street. Both drew much popular attention in the years immediately before the First World War. During the War the Herald printed many obituaries of soldiers killed in action. It was noted that at the beginning of the War, the Herald obtained cable news of events ahead of the bigger newspapers, issuing 'War Specials' (special editions) in the early afternoons. (Plain dealer, 8 August 1914, p. 2) The newspaper also contained extensive sports reporting.