Celebrating Great Journalism - 20 September

Welcome to our weekly round-up of impactful journalism from across our 120+ trusted brands, from national titles like the Mirror, Express, Daily Record and Daily Star, to local brands like MyLondon, BelfastLive and the Manchester Evening News, as well as our US-based brands.

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Paul Rowland, Editorial Director, Live Network and leads with two stories from the Midlands that are testament to the power of local journalism in standing up for what’s right.

Nottingham - defending the right to tell the truth

If there’s one thing that defines our purpose as a news organisation, it’s standing up for what’s right. This week we saw one of our titles fully vindicated after defending its right to tell the public the truth.

In February this year, Nottinghamshire Police asked a content editor at NottinghamshireLive to sign a non-disclosure agreement that would permit entry to a briefing about the force’s investigation into Valdo Calocane, the alleged perpetrator of a series of random knife attacks in the city. 

There were already serious questions about the constabulary’s handling of the case, in particular its prior dealings with Calocane, so the requirement for journalists participating in the briefing not to disclose what had been shared immediately aroused suspicion. 

Outraged by the intent to suppress information that was squarely in the public interest, editor Natalie Fahy and her team took the challenging decision to both report on the information shared in the briefing, and the requirement to sign an NDA in order to gain admission. The decision was not without risk, but the view was unanimous that the local police force could not be allowed to dictate what was reported about a case with such significant public interest ramifications.

NottinghamshireLive and the Nottingham Post’s reporting gave readers a detailed and nuanced view of their reasons to defy police and allow them insight into the force’s dealings with Calocane prior to his atrocious crimes. The decision to publish was met with a furious response from Nottinghamshire Police, and an extensive Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) complaint landed shortly afterwards.

This week, IPSO comprehensively dismissed all aspects of Nottinghamshire Police’s complaint, asserting NottinghamshireLive’s right to publish both the details of the briefing and the request for them to sign an NDA. We shouldn’t underestimate how significant a moment this is, both for the right of local publishers to speak truth to power, and an assertion of the power of news brands to take their own view of decisions placed upon them by police forces. 

Birmingham - campaigning for action on child poverty

In Birmingham, Editor Graeme Brown has long said that documenting the child poverty crisis is the single biggest journalistic priority facing his team. This week, the title launched a campaign demanding change for the city’s youngest residents. BirminghamLive published Birmingham: A Child Poverty Emergency - highlighting the startling rise in the city and impact on housing, health, crime and more. It marks the start of a new campaign at BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail newspaper demanding a better shot at life for young people in the city.

Elsewhere, a good old-fashioned scoop from Newcastle Local Democracy Reporter Dan Holland, who beat the nationals to stand up the story about the departure of Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp on grounds of bullying. Dan was able to draw on both excellent contacts, with whom he has established trust, and former stories to provide rich context. Dan is working on follow-ups that will continue to lead the agenda.

Finding new topics we’ve previously not covered - and attracting new audiences in the process - is very important for all our brands. In recent days, the Curiously team has seen significant success with a range of social media videos on Emily in Paris, the Netflix series that released the second half of its latest season last week, including this one on fast facts about the cast and another about the money each cast member earns per episode. The Hear Me Out News channel the team runs on Instagram is also working hard to create new ways to share news stories. This post, looking at which countries are calling for an end to Israeli occupation in Palestinian territories, was widely shared.

In the US, Victoria Johns attracted a lot of readers to her story on Mirror.com about living conditions inside the prison where rapper P Diddy is being housed pending his trial, while Features Writer Nia Dalton and Audience Writer Julia Banim’s backgrounder on how Huw Edwards' crimes were exposed was among the stories readers spent most time with over the past seven days on mirror.co.uk

Thanks for reading, we’ll be back with more highlights next week.