The editor of the Manchester Evening News has spoken out about its decision to publish a second video of the Manchester Airport incident in which an armed police officer appeared to kick someone in the head.

The M.E.N had been first to publish an initial 30-second video clip of the incident which subsequently made national headlines last week.

However it later became aware of the existence of CCTV which painted a fuller picture of the incident.

After the paper exclusively obtained this new footage on Saturday, M.E.N journalists John Scheerhout and Ashlie Blakey worked to successfully verify it before it was published online later that day.

A still from the second video, published by the M.E.N on Saturday

The new footage shows some of what happened in the crucial seconds before the scenes which had previously caused widespread concern and anger.

It appears to show violence erupting between two men, and a male police officer and two female officers during an arrest at the airport.

In the footage, a number of punches appear to be thrown by both men involved, with a female officer knocked to the ground as she is punched in the face.

Editor Sarah Lester said that while it was a “hugely sensitive” story, there was “overwhelming public interest” in publishing the second, 39-second video.

Said Sarah: “A lot of thought and discussion went into our decision to publish this video. This was a hugely sensitive story and we are acutely aware of our responsibility to explain what is going on in a calm and balanced way which does not inflame tensions in our community.

“We knew from conversations with contacts that the bit of the video we had already published did not show everything that happened and we owed it to our audience to make sure that we told the fullest story possible.

“We take complex decisions every day about what to publish, considering carefully whether or not something should be in the public domain. On this occasion we felt there was an overwhelming public interest in publishing the video.

“There is still a lot we don’t know about what happened in the airport that afternoon and we will continue to investigate what happened and report on it.”

Sarah took part in BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show today to discuss the decision to publish the video as well as her thoughts on dealing with false information relating to the killings in Southport.

The newspaper also explained its thought processes in its email newsletter The Mancunian Way.

Executive editor Amanda Crook wrote:  “One of the big questions was what had happened before this. We are more conscious than anyone that snippets of footage can be misleading by omission.

“A lot of people had a particular impression from having seen the initial footage. It wasn’t about correcting that – but it was about being able to provide the fullest picture possible.”

“Our priority throughout was that we didn’t obstruct any court proceedings that have already started or might happen. Given the fallout of the first footage, it was really important that we tried to show as much as possible.

“We decided to go ahead because we felt what it showed was too important to ignore and it was being shared so widely. We did feel the footage we had initially shared was a very incomplete picture.

Added Amanda:  “Right throughout this, our reporters and photographers have been incredibly professional.

“It’s not easy reporting on division in your own community but, as always, they have handled themselves brilliantly and we are really proud of them.”