Sweating on the right result (From The Northern Echo)

Sweating on the right result

3:52pm Monday 9th January 2012 in From The Editor's Chair By Peter Barron

EVERY journalist knows what it’s like to wake up in a cold sweat in the early hours of the morning, gripped by panic at the sudden thought that a mistake has been set in print, that the presses have already rolled and it’s too late – wagons are already distributing your failure to every breakfast table and there’s nothing you can do to call them back.

It is a feeling editors know especially well because, no matter whose mistake it might have been, the buck stops with them.

Despite taking a sleeping pill on February 13, 1997, Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre woke up drenched in sweat at 4am – “the time when all decisions of the previous day suddenly assume terrifying proportions” – after he had approved the front page below.

It is easy to understand why.

Imagine taking such a momentous decision; such an incredible risk. But what a front page.

I remember a tingle of excitement running down my spine the day it was published. I had never seen a newspaper be quite that brave – or reckless – before.

For years afterwards, I have held it up on journalism training courses as the ultimate example of pushing a story to its limits.

Dacre pushed the Stephen Lawrence story further than anyone else dared after getting to know Stephen’s father Neville when he worked as a plasterer at the editor’s home.

Following last week’s conviction of racist thugs Gary Dobson and David Norris for being part of a mob which killed Stephen, the Daily Mail’s “Murderers” front page will be remembered as one of the great pieces of campaigning journalism.

It was backed up by a continued campaign which led to Home Secretary Jack Straw ordering a judicial inquiry. The momentum continued until two of the killers were eventually brought to justice.

The importance of another campaign, led by North-East mother Ann Ming, and vigorously backed by The Northern Echo, should not be underestimated in the chain of events.

Ann fought for a change in the law after Billy Dunlop, the killer of her daughter Julie, was initially acquitted but was caught bragging that he’d got away with murder.

The double jeopardy law, which prevented people from being tried twice for the same offence, was scrapped, paving the way for not only Billy Dunlop to be retried but also for the killers of Stephen Lawrence to go back before a jury.

When news of the guilty verdicts broke last week, a text message swiftly arrived from my wife, simply saying “Fantastic”. It was a sentiment echoed around the country.

After all the knocks the newspaper industry has rightly taken over the past year, I am delighted that courageous journalism has been credited with playing a leading part in sending those cowardly murderers to prison.

Isn’t it a nice thought that it is the other killers of poor Stephen Lawrence who will now be waking up in a cold sweat, waiting for a visit from the police.