Sunday Life
The power of our journalism was most evident by how we forced a killer to resign from his senior role in the Orange Order. The loyal order, which has 30,000 members in NI and beyond, appointed Stephen Fulton as Worshipful District Master in Cookstown. Our splash led to outrage across the political spectrum and calls for Fulton to quit. Within four days he resigned and the Order apologised. In January we revealed shocking exclusive video footage showing drunk and disgraced top cop Patricia Foy in the aftermath of two crashes on Christmas Eve. The chief superintendent was filmed just after hitting her neighbour’s car while reversing into the wrong driveway. She had just fled the scene of her first smash where she hit traffic lights. Foy admitted drinking three large gins before getting behind the wheel, even though she was on call for the PSNI at the time. She has since been dismissed from the police. Our video footage was one of our biggest traffic drivers on the website in January and helped us beat digital targets. That same month we featured the first interview with the parents of murder victim Natalie McNally as they appealed for justice, a scoop followed up by ITV, Sky News and others. Our March 5 edition revealed how a crime gang with a Protestant/loyalist background joined forces to try to kill Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, who was shot several times. Even with Northern Ireland’s history of violence this was a shocking development from across the religious divide. They were united in hate for a police officer who helped bring many of their associates to justice. Since we broke this story seven people have been charged with the murder bid, four of whom are Protestants, including two brothers and father of the ex-soldier we named. Across print and digital everything we do complements the other. We are merged with our sister daily, the Belfast Telegraph for a combined digital subscription offering - currently at almost 11k. Sunday is our biggest day for subscriptions thanks to the strength of our content. How our teams work together to ensure the best combined digital and print coverage was evident as we championed our communities at our annual Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards event in June, including disability campaigners, mental health advocates, young carers and DCI Caldwell. This was his first public appearance since he was shot by the New IRA. We arranged for the Prime Minister to name him as the Special Recognition Award winner in a video message. This video and one of DCI Caldwell speaking on stage was distributed via PA to other media. Inextricably linked to our news brand, the awards are the most high profile event in regional newspapers across the UK. This and our journalism makes a tangible impact for our readers and society in Northern Ireland.