A regional daily has been honoured after pledging its commitment to coverage of the armed forces.

Portsmouth daily The News has been awarded ‘bronze’ status for its work covering the forces after signing the Armed Forces Covenant.

Signatories to the Covenant acknowledge that past and present forces personnel, and their families, deserve “fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives”.

In recent times, The News was involved in a wider investigation that revealed the “hidden epidemic” of military suicides, prompting a Ministry of Defence pledge for action.

Tom Cotterill, the newspaper’s defence correspondent and chief reporter, is also a British Army reservist.

Editor Mark Waldron said: “As well as Portsmouth being the proud home of the Royal Navy, it is also a place where hundreds of veterans and serving soldiers and RAF personnel live.

“As a paper, we pride ourselves in being a regional voice for this community, which is part of the very fabric of the city.

“Our pledge to the Armed Forces Covenant is not a token gesture but a genuine commitment: from our award-winning veterans in crisis campaign, to our countless reports of naval homecoming – and now to supporting our first reservist in Tom – we are proud of our role we can play in supporting the area’s military personnel and will continue to do this into the future.”