It has been said that the job of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
The Manchester Evening News has provided fine examples of the former this week.
After the bombing at 10.33pm on Monday, which killed 22 leaving a pop concert, journalists somehow managed to put together 34 pages of coverage by 9am the following day by working through the night.
The title has become a focal point for the city’s grieving and recovery process.
Today the website is filled with photographs and tributes to those who have died.
The MEN has also asked the difficult questions reporting concerns from firefighters that they were prevented by bosses from entering Manchester Arena for 90 minutes while they waited for bulletproof overalls to arrive.
Today’s front-page (pictured top), quoting from the lyrics of famous Manchester band The Smiths is pitched perfectly.
With nearly 800,000 unique browsers per day the MEN is deservedly the UK’s most popular regional newspaper online.
It is local newspaper journalism at its best.
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