We’re still here to serve after 150 years of proud heritage

CAMPAIGNING M.E.N. COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTED IN CELEBRATION OF LOCAL NEWSPAPERS

THIS week is Local Newspaper Week – an event to highlight and celebrate your local media.

The Manchester Evening News is proud to have served Greater Manchester for a century and a half – in fact it is our 150th anniversary this October.

Even after all that time, we feel privileged to hold such a position. We are here to inform and entertain. And we are locally accountable.

We may now also have a huge online presence (around 90 million page views a month) but the same exacting standards still applies. We are Made in Manchester; for Manchester and we answer to Manchester.

The glib ‘Fake News’ jibe is now thrown around liberally, even to the mainstream media who strive to check and double check before publishing.

On the rare occasions we get it wrong, we will swiftly apologise and clarify the situation.

But our promise to you has always been the same – you can trust what you read from the Manchester Evening News, in print or online.

And we will always fight the cause for the region and Mancunians. We have been lauded for the coverage of social issues such as homelessness and the scourge of Spice on our streets.

Tomorrow, at the Regional Press Awards in London, the M.E.N. is nominated in eleven categories, including Best Newspaper and Best Website.

As we approach the first anniversary of the Manchester Arena attack, it is worth noting what Lord Kerslake said in his inquiry into the aftermath of that dreadful night 12 months ago.

The Kerslake Review praised our professional and balanced approach.

“The information in the Manchester Evening News was correct,” said one family affected by the attack. Another was quoted in the report as describing their local press as ‘amazing.’

Lord Kerslake concluded: “A number of families spoke in praise of sympathetic reporting by the Manchester Evening News and other papers local to the bereaved.”

David Dinsmore, the chairman of the News Media Association which is behind Local Newspaper Week and which is the voice of the national and local press, said: “The response to the Manchester Evening News’ #WeStandTogether campaign for those affected by the Manchester bomb was incredible.

“Our local newspapers produce high-quality local journalism which makes a real difference, day in day out. Forty-two million people, 83 per cent of the population, count themselves as local newspaper readers, in print or digital. We must use Local Newspaper Week to shout unashamedly about the immense value of local journalism,” he said. Darren Thwaites, the M.E.N. Editor in Chief, said: “The Manchester Evening News has a rich and proud heritage dating back to Victorian times. For 150 years, we’ve reported on our triumphs and tragedies, our hopes and ambitions. “We’re now reaching more people than at any point in our history thanks to web, mobile, app and social media. “We remain an essential part of people’s daily lives - as important and influential as ever in the life of our city.” Darren Thwaites, M.E.N. Editor in Chief