Newspapers across the country have used their front pages today to urge readers to get out and vote in the General Election.
As is traditional, most regional press titles have remained neutral on polling day – including the Northern Echo, which “reluctantly” endorsed Labour in 2015, and the Yorkshire Post, which two years ago backed a continuation of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government.
However, in Glasgow, the Daily Record has backed Labour with a front page which draws inspiration from the film Trainspotting, while pro-independence daily The National has unsurprisingly endorsed the Scottish National Party.
Here is a selection of election-related front pages from across the country:
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The political neutrality of today’s Northern Echo is severely compromised by a four-page wraparound advertisement by the Labour Party, not mentioned in your review of the regional dailies’ coverage of the General Election. Under the paper’s normal masthead, the front page contains an image of a colliery pithead with the words: “The Tories have wrecked the North East before . . . And they’ll do it again! You can’t Trust the Tories. Vote Labour today to stand up for the North East.” The Editor attempts to justify the publication of the advertisement by stating on Page 2 of the main paper: “Due to a production problem the Labour advert runs today rather than yesterday as originally planned.”
As a former editor of The Northern Echo, I despair of this shameful destruction of the paper’s cherished neutrality.
Andrew Smith
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Andrew
The whole issue of party political rallying ‘adverts’ wrapped around local weekly papers, irrespective of which party is paying to appear,has been the overriding topic on HTFP for some days,and the comments on social media sites has all been from local people and journalists aghast at papers carrying them with the vast majority agreeing this totally compromises the credibility and future neutrality of those papers and editors,have you not been following it?
Take a look back and see how just how many once credible papers have bowed down to the ad managers using the tired old ‘we need the money…it pays your wages” excuse for running wraps, incredibly some editors and chiefs have even backed their decision as a good thing and a good sign
That just shows you how desperate things are and sadly how the only thing that matters nowadays is £££
The fall out of allowing fake news to appear in the guise of a local papers own branded front covers will be many disgruntled readers and advertisers voting with their feet and will be a bitter pill for these papers to swallow in terms of more revenue lost than gained by this short sighted policy
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Andrew: How come you’re only complaining now, about a Labour Party wraparound, when there have been Tory & Lib Dem ones around local papers all over the country for weeks, as South Side Johnnie says? Neutral? Hmmm.
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My point was that by giving over the front page (the one seen on news-stands and the doormat) to a political advertisement on polling day, the Echo had seriously compromised its neutrality.
If production problems had prevented the ad from appearing on a previous day, it should have been withdrawn to protect the independence and integrity of the paper. The fact that the ad was not booked to appear on polling day suggests that there was no contractual obligation to publish it on that day.
I do not agree with wraparounds for any client on daily paid-for newspapers but it has sadly become commonplace as publishers strive to raise revenue vital to their survival, so I suppose it is a necessary evil.
Andrew Smith
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” ….publishers strive to raise revenue vital to their survival, so I suppose it is a necessary evil…”
So saying you’ve just answered your own question Andrew
Forget contractual obligations ,It’s all about the money, no matter how they get it
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