By Sarah Lagan
The News in Portsmouth went to town with its coverage of the Battle
of Trafalgar celebrations, boosting sales of the newspaper with a
commemorative glossy 48-page magazine and extensive in-paper coverage
of the event.
Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the battle, the paper built
up to the International Fleet Review and the International Festival of
the Sea by producing 50,000 copies of the magazine Fleet Review. They
sold out and an extra 20,000 copies were printed in time for the event.
On
the Monday, print times were brought forward for the last edition,
which included full coverage of the Queen’s arrival in Portsmouth as
well as aerial shots of the 160-plus ships lined up at Spithead.
An extra late edition with a print run of 12,000 was off stone at 3.30pm.
Reporter
Simon Coughlin was told by the organisers he could cover the sea battle
reenactment only if he dressed as an 18th-century “powder monkey”.
The
next day the paper’s first edition, with an extra 10,000 copies
printed, included coverage of the spectacular son et Lumière show, the
biggest display in Britain with more than 60,000 fireworks. Again it
was a sell-out.
On Monday there was an eight-page picture
supplement, and celebrations were also captured on webcams for the
paper’s website which took 36,000 hits on the day.
Deputy editor
Mark Acheson said: “The special papers were hugely popular and a
tremendous testament to hard work and creativity of the staff involved.
“Everyone got stuck in, one way or another.”
On Saturday 16 July there will be a 16-page commemorative picture special on the week’s events.
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