ZUMA PRESS, INC. / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO The main obstacle was the flood of false reports
on social media, photos purporting to be from the scene that were from previous terror attacks and pictures of people supposedly missing who had no connection with the event. “The biggest challenge was getting the balance right – to ensure we told the story in a calm and complete way, and to bring people together rather than feeding fear and anger of which there was plenty around,” he says. Irvine says his advice to editors is listen to the audience. He recalls readers were ‘horrified’ when a national newspaper printed the photo of the attacker alongside a photograph of the youngest victim on the front page. “I vowed that, as long as I was editor, the murderer would
never feature on the front page and his photo would always be kept away from those whose lives he had stolen and damaged,” he says. The MEN helped raise more than £20 million for injured
people, bereaved families and people suffering post-traumatic symptoms. This prompted Irvine to quit journalism and retrain as a psychotherapist working with trauma survivors. David Collins was working at The Sunday Times in London
at the time and says it highlighted the need for a permanent presence outside London. He created the role of northern editor and transferred to Manchester three months later. “The news can’t just be about London and the south east
– the UK is a country not a city and that is a big lesson for the media across the board,” he says. “It’s not enough to send reporters up on the train – you’ve got to be here to do the job.” Collins covered the police investigation and inquiry in depth (it lasted two and a half years) and says a lot was not being picked up. “There were days when there was literally one freelance journalist on shift for a lot of nationals,” he says. He felt there needed to be an ‘accurate record’ and, after getting to know Andrew Roussos, father of eight-year-old Saffie, the youngest victim to die, he decided to write a book. Saffie had been at the concert with her mother, Lisa, who was given a 15 per cent chance of survival and 90 per cent chance
of being paralysed from the neck down. The book told the story of Saffie and the family’s fight for justice. It took Collins a year to write. “I’d speak to Andrew and Lisa for about an hour every day, and write it up at
“There was a moment of profound silence when a colleague called out the police confirmation of more than 20 fatalities” Rob Irvine, former editor, Manchester Evening News
“There was a lot of pressure to get new lines on the dead and the investigation into the attacker” Helen Pidd, former northern editor, The Guardian
“You have to get in front of those families to build that trust and those relationships” Amy Welch, reporter, ITV north of England
“Journalism combined with public inquiries is a powerful force” David Collins, northern editor, Sunday Times
night when my kids were in bed,” he says. He says it taught him the value of public inquiries, particularly when organisations like the police and MI5 are involved. “Journalism can only go so far,” he says. “What I learnt was how far MI5 will go to protect its own reputation.” ITV North of England reporter Amy Welch worked closely with families on the ITV documentary Manchester 100 Days After the Attack. She recalls going to the home of 14-year-old victim Nell Jones a few weeks after the attack to ask the family if they wanted to be involved. “I’ve been a journalist for 17 years, but when you have to approach a family like that who have been through the worst thing you could possibly imagine, I feel sick to my stomach,” she says. “I always try and put myself in their shoes.” Welch sat down with Nell’s mother, Jayne, who was creating
a garden for Nell at her school; ITV helped with fundraising and publicity. “We had a lot of coffees over the weeks that followed and it
took a lot of time to build up trust,” she says. “It wasn’t just a case of ‘What do we want from you?’ – that is absolutely the wrong way to go about it – it was very much ‘How can we help you?’ and I think, at that moment, that’s what the family needed. They wanted Nell’s name to live on and we were a platform to help them do that.” As Welch points out, not all the families wanted the same thing. Some wanted to raise awareness of first aid. Others were angry and wanted accountability. “For me, as a journalist, it was about working with each of these families to help them achieve what they wanted to achieve as a legacy for their loved ones,” she says. Welch has stayed in touch with Nell’s family and remains
good friends. “They trusted me with Nell and her memory,” she says. “I have a duty as a journalist and as a person to make sure I honour that in the best and truest way I can.”
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