Six regional dailies scooped the national print titles to news of David Cameron’s resignation after the Prime Minister stepped down in the wake of the referendum Leave vote
A series of special editions across the UK regional press hit the streets on Friday morning after voters backed Brexit by a margin of 52-48pc.
Special editions of sister dailies the Express & Star, Wolverhampton, and the Shropshire Star, pictured below, carried the Prime Minister’s 8am announcement on their front pages, while the Oldham Evening Chronicle, which prints on the same day, also had the story.
The Manchester Evening News and the Birmingham Mail, normally printed overnight, also rushed out special morning editions to carry the news that the PM was stepping down.
The copy deadline for Friday editions of the Oldham Chronicle comes at the challenging time of 8.15am – so David Cameron’s resignation announcement came with moments to spare.
However, journalists managed to put together the special edition, pictured below.
Editor David Whaley said: “We knew that the national newspapers would miss the results when the EU referendum timings were announced and we expected to have a front page with the result.
“We were within minutes of sending Page One when the Prime Minster announced his decision to stand down. We were a few minutes late on the press but it was worth it.”
The Express & Star, below, had already published an overnight special with the referendum result but updated it to include a strapline on the PM quitting.
The paper’s poll of readers suggest an overwhelming majority would vote Leave proved accurate, with voters in the West Midlands voting by 59-41pc against continued EU membership.
Sunderland was among the first of the 382 regional counting centres to declare in the early hours of this morning, with 61pc of its electorate favouring Brexit.
The result was reflected on the front page of the Sunderland Echo, pictured below, featuring the headline ‘Wear Out’.
Archant sister dailies the East Anglian Daily Times, below, and Eastern Daily Press also carried the national result in special editions.
Three polls conducted by the papers in the lead-up to yesterday’s poll showed an increasing trend towards people on their patches voting for Brexit.
All areas of Scotland unanimously voted in favour of Remain, and the Edinburgh Evening News gave over its front page to ‘a nation divided’, while Glasgow-based daily The Herald carried the result in a 5am referendum edition.
The Herald’s sister daily the Glasgow Evening Times ran 6am and 11am editions, the latter of which, below, went out to 11,000 home delivery subscribers and larger city centre outlets.
Pro-Scottish independence daily The National, below, speculated that the result may trigger a second referendum on the issue.
Elswhere, the Aberdeen Evening Express also remarked on the stark difference in the way Scotland voted.
Four Trinity Mirror dailies had come out for Remain in the days leading up to the vote – the Birmingham Mail, Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News, below, and The Journal, Newcastle.
Of the cities served by those titles, three backed their newspapers’ stances – but Birmingham voted in favour of Brexit.
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Well done all those who ran special editions. Our lot apparently couldn’t be bothered.
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And who may “your lot” be, echo? Nothing to do with a holy triple reflecting surface perchance? And, anyway, why get stewed up about this Euro thingy, whatever it is, when there’s hamsters in superhero costumes to ogle online? Priorities, echo old chum.
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‘Holy triple reflecting surface’ Septimus old bean? Gosh, that’s a new name for them. No hamsters in superhero costumes, I’m afraid, but I have managed to find a rather super vid of a cat doing something interesting with a wheelbarrow. I’m really cheered up now.
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There are some publications who did not even bother covering their local results.
Is it an out of date traditional view to send reporters to counts rather than pull results from the BBC or similar?
Surely journalists at counts is part of the oversight of the process?
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I like Evening News for eye appeal and Shropshire Star for clarity and content.
The Express and Star just makes me nauseous.
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Cameron announced his resignation live on TV…how is that a ‘scoop’ for any newspaper, regional or otherwise?
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Great to see some regional newspapers pulling out the stops. Congrats to all involved. But it makes you wonder if circulation decline is, in part, down to a lack of understanding of the communities they serve – I’m thinking Birmingham Mail endorsing Remain so enthusiastically but the second city ended up voting Leave. In its build-up coverage it seemed the paper had not even a remote idea or feeling the city vote would be so close, let alone opt for Leave. Bet there are some sheepish-looking faces in Fort Dunlop.
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Nice news story showing that regionals can, as ever, set the agenda.
But that Birmingham Echo front page sucks. Interstate is such an awful typeface for newspapers.
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Printing the story earlier just because it happens to suit your deadline better has never been a scoop and definitely isn’t one in the multi-media age.
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Will all editors who supported Remain, and even welcomed Cameron to their newspaper offices, now do the honourably thing and resign. You bet not!
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I’m afraid today’s incredibly fast-moving events finally proved the future of print is a dream. How can anybody be proud of a 5am edition these days when twitter and tv have already moved the debate miles further? It pains me to say that but, like the vote, that’s the way it is now. We all have to move on, including our industry. I fear the current digital mania isn’t the answer. Another doomed dream? I suspect so. But to be very honest, I don’t know the answer. Does anybody?
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In pre internet days that was the joy of working for an evening with three daily deadlines, scooping the nats.
By sadly they cannot claim a scoop when millions have seen it (for nothing) on the web. Nice try though boys and girls.
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Rambler: No.
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Admirable as it is that newspapers chose to bring out a late edition, this hardly counts as a scoop these days. This is a national/ international story that was live on TV and the internet long before it saw the light of day in print.
A newspaper scoop is a story that appears in print first and is then picked up and circulated by the nationals/ websites et al.
Call me old-fashioned….
Now bring me a genuine scoop
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Loving that 1970s design of the Shropshire Star!
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This may have been a story 30 years ago but not sure it is any more. The salient point is how good was the coverage? Was it all just lifted from PA or did they have people on the ground covering it? Fair play if they did. But in the world of the internet and smartphones getting it out in print first, really isn’t much of an achievement. Shame but that’s the 21st Century for you.
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Scooped? There wasn’t a person in the country who didn’t know about the resignation within five minutes of it happening.
Totally irrelevant what is printed (or when) in a local paper these days.
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@archant lifer
To be fair the EDP do have some nice photos of reader supplied wildlife and t’night sky over t’glorious county we are proud t’call home on social media
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