Pembrokeshire Herald editor quits but paper 'will survive'

The Pembrokeshire Herald launched only last month

The publisher of a new local newspaper says the title will survive despite the resignation of its editor just six weeks after launch.

Bruce Sinclair quit the Pembrokeshire Herald after a disagreement over the content of a column criticising the rival Western Telegraph.

The Herald previously made headlines when a sexually explicit phrase appeared in an advertisement.

Publisher Tom Sinclair said there was no question of the paper closing.

"I had a very clear aim when I decided to start the newspaper which was that the Pembrokeshire Herald will be a paper that is a campaigning paper, a paper which has got a distinctive voice, and a paper that is not frightened to speak the truth and to tell the news no matter what," said Mr Sinclair, who is no relation to the paper's former editor.

'More successful'

"It was unfortunate that although Bruce Sinclair was a very good journalist, he wasn't the right person to take the Pembrokeshire Herald in the direction that we, the founders, wanted to take it in."

He added: "I don't think there's any question of if the paper will survive, I think it certainly will. I think the paper will be more successful if it is a paper which gives the real news and tells the real stories.

"The point is we've always said we want to be a newspaper and not a snooze-paper.

"It's all very well having the small little stories about raising money for the lifeboats and charity things - that's all important, of course - but we have to have investigative journalism, we have to be able to say what's going on in Pembrokeshire."

In a statement, Bruce Sinclair said he had enjoyed being with the paper since its launch, but following the inclusion of the opinion piece - Badger Knows Best - against his wishes he had decided to part company with it.

"While I have certainly enjoyed the challenge of creating a new newspaper from scratch, a lack of editorial resources has made my role difficult," he said.

'Overruled'

"We've managed to turn out six editions of the county-wide paper to date with an editorial team consisting only of me, a sports reporter and a photographer, together with some input from the publisher."

He added: "Matters were brought to a head by the manner in what I considered a needlessly personal attack was launched on a senior member of the Western Telegraph in the Herald's Badger Knows Best comment piece.

"Despite my rejection of the original text and my repeated protests about its tone, I was overruled, with the result that the comment-style article was sent for publication unaltered.

"As a result, I have come to realise the direction The Herald is taking and my role within it as editor are incompatible."

The Herald had already made headlines of its own after some advertisements in its edition of 19 July were altered after the paper had been approved for publication.

A sexually explicit phrase was added to one advertisement for a car rental company, which prompted photographs of the advert to be widely distributed on social networking sites and in other newspapers.

Tom Sinclair said a "security breach" was behind the altered advertisements.

He said: "Just after the paper had been proofed and when it was ready to go to print, somebody accessed our server externally and made changes to a number of adverts in the paper."

He added that he was keen that the paper gained a reputation for journalism, rather than controversies about its production.

"People say that controversy creates cash, I don't know if that's true, but what we want to see happen is the Herald to be known for its positive contribution to journalism in Wales," he said.

"We want to bring stories and scoops and exclusives, and really be seen as a paper that's seen as a serious paper and one that's got a key and important role in the community."