Letter from the editor: Why we did not publicise Northampton protest in advance

Good morning,

To say we as a nation, a town and a newsroom were in uncharted waters this week would be somewhat of an understatement.

The rioting that had broken out across the country in the previous week had shocked us all. It became clear very early on that the organisers were intent on repeating those awful scenes.

We, like many others, had seen the social media posts days in advance, listing Northampton as one of the planned sites of protest last night at 8pm.

As a newsteam, we debated how we should approach it. The first course of action was to pass on any information we had to the police.

The decision was then what, if anything, should we publish?

Lots of media outlets did, highlighting that Northampton was on the list. We decided not to.

We did not want to give the organisers the oxygen of further publicity for their planned action. We believed this was the most responsible thing to do.

The police had clearly warned people in the area - as we reported last night, shops and businesses had boarded up their windows and doors in advance.

Internally, measures were taken to ensure the safety of those covering the protest, which at that point we had to plan for the worst-case scenario.

Thankfully it passed off peacefully, with only a handful of arrests prior to the protests starting.

The community reaction - the anti-protest - was overwhelming. Our reporter was at the scene through the evening and it was clear that the town, and in cities across the country, stood as one, united against the violent protests of previous weeks.

Hopefully this will be the end of it.

I received a number of emails yesterday asking why we hadn't publicised the protests and questioning our approach. I hope that this explains why and, as always, I appreciate any feedback. Please email me at [email protected]

Kind regards,

David SummersEditor

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