Broadcast and international media have focused on the Plymouth Herald newsroom during the past week, as the plight of the crew of HMS Cornwall intensifies.
Fifteen Royal Navy personnel were captured at gunpoint by Iranian Forces after boarding a boat suspected of smuggling off the coast of Iraq.
The Navy ship is based at the Plymouth Devonport naval dockyard, and the female prisoner, Faye Turney, is local to the paper’s circulation area.
The Herald itself has been running fresh angles every day, with a unique point of view and access to the naval community.
Although the paper has a strong relationship with the Ministry of Defence, there have been no special favours during this critical time.
News editor James Garnett said: “As a newspaper we would have liked to have got straight into the dockyard to talk to other crews.
“When there was a normal press facility for a returning ship, we were able to ask crew members for their point of view on HMS Cornwall.
“We didn’t get that earlier in the week as there has been a real lockdown by the MoD because of the sensitivity of it all. This was difficult for us and we have had to rely on off-the-record sources but there is only so much information you can carry in that way.”
James expects more of the crew to be identified as being local to Plymouth as the crisis continues. Apart from Faye, many of the people who were captured were commandos from elsewhere. But the people who crew the ship are likely to be based at Devonport.
Apart from putting the newspaper together, he has also been the focus of worldwide attention himself, being involved in broadcast interviews for BBC News 24, Sky and other TV crews, both from this country and abroad.
The first request came from the BBC, which wanted to run a pre-recorded piece from the Herald newsroom. It was such a success on the 1pm edition last Monday that the BBC came back to record an outside interview, overlooking the dockyard, live for the 3pm news.
The next day, when it became clear Faye Turney was one of the captives, Sky News staked its claim on an interview and sent its west of England correspondent to see James.
Former defence writer James said: “They wanted to broadcast live from the same hillside that overlooked Devonport.
“But they gave me an earpiece and connected me direct to the studio to be interviewed as an expert by their presenter. They asked me about women in the forces and other points relevant to the emerging story.
“I had to draw on my experience a bit and it was all a great opportunity for the newspaper and great fun for me.”
Sky returned to record a further piece in the newsroom, and German TV crews and the Washington Post have also been in contact with the paper to get the low-down on life in a naval city.
James said: “We suspect there are more from the Plymouth area involved so we are on standby to come into our own when that is confirmed.”
The South Wales Evening Post kept the names of two local servicemen held captive in Iran secret after speaking to their families and the Ministry of Defence.