AddThis SmartLayers

Daily demands action to prevent Grenfell-style tragedy on patch

A regional daily has demanded the government and housing providers act to prevent a tragedy like the Grenfell Tower fire from occurring on its patch.

Newcastle-based daily The Chronicle has launched its ‘What price life?’ campaign, which it describes as “a question we shouldn’t still be asking in 21st century Britain”.

A total of 79 people are confirmed dead so far following the Grenfell fire, in the North Kensington area of London.

The Chronicle has listed five demands following the launch of the campaign to ensure there is no repeat of the disaster in the North-East of England.

Newcastle Grenfell

The newspaper has called for the authorities to test, remove and replace cladding on all its patch’s high rise flats, retro-fit any such blocks with sprinkler systems and start an urgent safeguarding review on all vulnerable buildings.

It has further demanded the government step in to help foot the bill and also wants residents’ voices to be heard after hearing from tenants who’ve identified what they believe are fire hazards in their homes but claim the people at the top just haven’t listened.

Chronicle editor Darren Thwaites said: “The tragedy of Grenfell is one with huge ramifications for every city region with high-rise development. It’s clear already that this was a disaster that should never have happened and we can’t sit back and allow another Grenfell to happen again.

“We’ve called for action on five points, including the need for financial support to allow local authorities to make buildings safe with urgency.
“We sought expert guidance on the issue of sprinklers and it’s clear they can and will save lives. It’s absurd that while new high-rise blocks must have sprinklers fitted, the law accepts that older blocks, often housing poor and vulnerable families, can go without. That can’t be acceptable in a developed nation in the 21st Century.
“Sadly, most of the issues we raise ultimately come down to cost and that’s why our campaign asks: What Price Life?”

The Chronicle’s campaign comes after the Grenfell tragedy sparked a debate on how the local press in West London had covered the concerns of residents in the months and years before the tragedy.

Some have argued that the “decline” of the industry and the loss of strong local titles has led to a “democratic deficit” in which insitutional failings have gone unreported.

In a piece for The Guardian, Emily Bell, from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, wrote: “Among the many elements of failure which lead to the unacceptable and avoidable, the failure of accountability reporting on local communities is obvious to anyone who cares to scour the archives.

“The decline of in-depth reporting about London’s richest borough is a microcosm of what has happened to local journalism in the UK.

“Covering local housing meetings is an unglamorous beat for any journalist; hardly anyone reads your work, almost nobody cares what happens in the meetings, and the pay is extremely low.  Yet it is hard to argue there are more civically important jobs for journalism than reporting the daily machinations of local power.

“The shallow wisdom of digital editors is often that when nobody reads your story, you are doing it wrong. But the stories worth covering that nobody reads are the fabric of the public record.”

In response to Emily’s blog, David Higgerson, digital publishing director for Trinity Mirror Regionals, posted on Twitter: “This from @emilybell is interesting, but don’t agree with that the ‘important journalism can’t be popular’ argument

“We live in a world where we have to compete for attention, so we need to make sure people see what we do, and explain why it matters.

“Some will characterise this as being the ‘counting clicks’ argument. It’s not – it’s about doing all we can to ensure journalism has impact.”

David highlighted coverage by the Manchester Evening News of a maternity scandal on its patch – as well as series by the MEN, Birmingham Mail, Liverpool Echo and Plymouth Herald – as examples of this.

He added: “Worth also noting that government changes to local government over [the] last 15 years have made it much, much harder to hold people to account. Hospital trusts could meet in private, housing associations effectively private, councils meeting behind closed doors, delegated decisions.

“Authorities have also become far smarter at dodging FoI requests. And ‘open data’ while good also hands information control to councils.”

One comment

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • June 28, 2017 at 9:25 am
    Permalink

    Part of the reason that authorities have become “smarter” at dodging FoI requests etc is that more and more newspapers are employing fewer journalists. They don’t have the “luxury” of being able to get out and about and make contacts in the way that older hacks like myself were able to do and therefore be able to speak to officials/councillors both on the record or on a no names, no pack drill basis – esp over a liquid lunch.!!! The same applies to courts and other bodies in officialdom. In many cases the organisations are shielded by PRs and press officers I used to be one many moons ago. I was fortunate in that I worked for an org that allowed me to a fair bit of freedom to talk on a background basis whereas I am afraid that too many orgs muzzle their PRs/press officers.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(7)