The 12 days of Local Pressmasness 12: Great front pages

And it was all going so well. 11 days, 11 numerically-themed pieces which look at different aspects of the regional and local press. And then I get to day 12 – it should be the easiest of the lot, 12 great front pages. I didn’t want to do just 12 front pages I liked –

FOI FRIDAY: Shop burglaries, looked after children a long way from home, army redundancies and homeless in B&Bs

‘Looked after’ children housed in different counties < < < Bury Free Press More than 130 looked after children in Suffolk are being placed outside the county as the demand for placements increases. Following a Freedom of Information request, the Bury Free Press can reveal that upto the end of February 135 out of the

FOI FRIDAY: Hospital cancellations, CCTV in schools, care home dumping and complaints about students

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media: 100,000 hospital cancellations < < < Ayrshire Post Scotland has a different Freedom of Information Act, but this FOI is one which should work anywhere: The number of hospital appointments cancelled (by the hospital) both as a percentage of total hospital

Hillsborough: Front pages which make you proud to be a regional journalist

To be in Liverpool yesterday was to witness something remarkable. The most outrageous wrong righted after 23 years. The truth revealed, but justice still to be done. Proof that if you believe in what you’re doing, you should keep fighting, even when the whole world appears to be against you, determined to keep secrets under

FOI FRIDAY: Mice at Manchester United, appealing students, cabbie grumbles and turning the lights off

Mice raid Manchester United < < < Manchester Evening News I love this FOI. Simple, but effective – although the sports editor might not thank you Manchester United had to deal with a mice infestation at Old Trafford, the M.E.N. can reveal. The outbreak was one of a number of hygiene and safety issues flagged

Newspaper front pages as works of art

Last year, I posted a picture of a Western Mail front page which summed up the emotions of the Rugby World Cup for Welsh rugby fans: Ask any splash sub and they’ll tell you that a front page can be a work of art (they’ll also point you to a rival newspaper whose front pages

Gallery: How the newspapers which knew Gary Speed best covered his death

The death of Gary Speed was one of those news stories which, when read first on Twitter, always makes me think: “I need to see that several more times from people I trust before I believe it.” Confirmation followed soon after. As is increasingly the case on social networks, the actual news was soon superceded

Sometimes, only words will do

FOI Friday: Overdue books, bedding plants, baby scans and trading standards

1. The most overdue books in town The devil, they say, is in the detail. And the Accrington Observer got plenty of detail back from its FOI request into overdue books at Accrington Library. Not only did they find out the number of books which are overdue, and the total amount owing in fines, but

FOI Friday: Dodging magistrates, the race for Oxbridge, big cats and clearing up after gypsies

How many going to university? Some interesting data from the Western Mail, which used FOI to ask how many students from each of the towns in Wales had been enrolled at Oxford and Cambridge in recent years. In some parts of Wales, not a single student has attended Oxbridge for seven years. No shows at