From the Editor: Bringing you Doncaster's good news stories
The Free Press tells the story of Doncaster in all its forms - and there is plenty to celebrate.
Hello!
A criticism sometimes levelled at the Free Press is that our coverage is ‘very negative’.
It is something from time to time we hear when we’re out and about talking to people and we also sometimes get this feedback on our social email pages or via email.
We’re not above criticism. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I genuinely welcome any sort of constructive feedback of the Free Press, be it positive or negative.
I value feedback like this because myself and the team can learn from it and use it to improve what we do.
But I am also prepared to challenge any perceptions or criticism of the Free Press which I think is unfair.
Do we publish stories which have a ‘negative’ subject matter? Yes, of course.
Our role as a local newspaper is to report what is happening in and around Doncaster. Like any city or town, not all of the things happening here are good.
So yes, we report on things like crime and court cases and anti-social behaviour because it is our job to tell people what is happening.
But this is only a relatively small part of what we do. Some perspective is needed, so let’s take a look at the bigger picture.
Take this week’s edition of the Free Press, for example. Not including sport, there are in excess of 60 news stories in these pages this week.
A small percentage of these stories are crime and harder news stories, but these are by far outnumbered by stories about all the good things happening in Doncaster.
We frequently shine a light on those going the extra mile for charity. There are no fewer than 10 stories this week about the amazing things individuals and groups have been doing to raise money for good causes.
This week’s paper also carries stories about local businesses winning awards (including the Draughtsman Alehouse), entrepreneurs launching new business ventures, and new books published by local authors.
The Free Press is here to tell the story of Doncaster and if you take a step back and look at all that we do, you will see that the story we are telling is mostly a positive one.
As always, if you want to share your thoughts about this or anything about the Free Press or Doncaster, then you can email me at [email protected]