Twelve sister weeklies have turned their mastheads black in tribute to the victims of an air crash which police believe claimed 11 lives.
Johnston Press newspapers in Sussex have made the move out of respect for those who died when a vintage Hawker Hunter jet crashed on the A27 during Shoreham Airshow.
The Shoreham Herald has run a special tribute edition, front page pictured below, which will see a percentage of its sales donated to the victims.
Donations will also be made from sales of the other editions of the Herald – covering Lancing, Steyning and Worthing – as well as the Littlehampton Gazette.
The Shoreham edition features a 16-page pullout which contains tributes to the known victims, eyewitness accounts from those who saw the tragedy, coverage of a memorial church service, floral tributes, words of condolence from dignitaries including the Prime Minister and details of books of condolences that have been opened across the area.
The donations from the newspapers will be made to a special fund set up by the Sussex Community Foundation.
Writing in the Herald, editor Gary Shipton said while concerns and debate arising from the crash would be reported, the victims and the welfare of their families was the only thing which mattered this week.
He added: “This is a special edition of our title.
“It is designed to record the dreadful events of the past week but more than that to remember and pay tribute to everyone who has lost their life; and everyone who is suffering dreadfully as a consequence.
“I hope we have shown discernment in setting about our journalistic responsibility.
“While our websites across Sussex have properly and fully reported events as they became clear – honest and responsible communication is essential with the community at a time like this – in this permanent printed edition we have used photographs of the most distressing moments as sparingly as possible.
“Many we have chosen not to reproduce in print.”
The other titles to turn their mastheads black in tribute were the Bognor Observer, Chichester Observer, Crawley Observer, Midhurst & Petworth Observer, Mid Sussex Times, West Sussex County Times and West Sussex Gazette.
Gary concluded: “Now is the time for sombre reflection, for thinking of those who have lost loved ones and all who have been affected by what is one of the biggest tragedies to ever occur here in Sussex.
“And for remembering how strong a community Shoreham is – and why we will support one another no matter how dark the hour.”
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The general view is that the JP titles have been trounced by the vastly superior coverage in the Brighton Argus.
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RT obviously has a golden, mystic ability to tap into the “general view”. What’s his secret? As a former resident in the area, now far away and not connected to either company, I have been following the story on both sites and the truth is both have done an excellent job. The JP sites were very quick off the mark on the day and have remained very professional. They have in no way been eclipsed by the Argus since. They have matched each other stride-for-stride and the winners are people like me who have got all this coverage for free.
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There was a good deal of JP click baiting with papers not usualy overing the area giving it great coverage
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Having seen JP’s supplement, it includes a double page spread with pictures before the jet crash of people having fun and planes carrying out aerobics. It seems whoever decided on using this spread has not got their finger on the pulse of local feeling.
It’s rather crass that with 11 people dead, they thought using pictures of people in happier times before the crash was appropriate.
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On reflection , comparisons of coverage quality are odious given the scale of tragedy. Both did their best with limited staff.
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RT, CroydonAugust 28, 2015 at 12:53 pm
The general view is that the JP titles have been trounced by the vastly superior coverage in the Brighton Argus.
Lol The Argus didn’t even send a photographer or a reporter out on the crash day, just picked it up off Twitter as usual at the paper and attempted to catch up the following day, they have only one photographer on for one day at the weekend,Sat or Sunday, the papers pictures and copy was from PA, fantastic coverage eh!
The Argus is cut to the bone now sadly, it only survived by social media, and at least 50% of pics now sourced by Twitter, new editor – 11% fall in readership, hardly a quality read…..
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The general view is that the JP titles have been trounced by the vastly superior coverage in the Brighton Argus.
LOL nobody reads the Argus anymore
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