From The Editor
Alastair Bushe, editor, News Letter

Dear Voornaam,

It goes without saying that March 2020 will go down as a landmark month in the history of Northern Ireland, the UK and the entire world. 

It was only at the start of March that coronavirus started making its presence felt in our Province, but by the end of the month, we had already been in lockdown for over a week, and almost 30 people had lost their lives here in connection with Covid-19. That number sadly promises to climb rapidly in the next few weeks. 

The lockdown announced by Boris Johnson has had a profound effect on all our lives. I can tell you that in line with government advice, all of the News Letter’s editorial and advertising teams are now working at home. Despite the obvious challenges that this has brought, we are still endeavouring to bring you accurate coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, both for those who read us online and our loyal print audience. 

Our staff have been impacted in other ways too. On Wednesday, our company, JPIMedia, announced a pay cut for all editorial staff and that advertising staff had been placed on furlough. It was an action the company simply had to take in these desperately difficult economic times.  

The month of March saw us enjoy a record month for audiences online and thank you for playing a part in this. 

I believe those figures are testament to the excellent coverage our journalists have provided of the Covid-19 crisis. Over 30,000 people read this article Coronavirus: NI council begins preparing graves in readiness for deaths surge by Jonathan McCambridge this week, in which a Northern Ireland council admitted that it has started preparing graves ahead of the expected surge in deaths. 

In another significant development, our political editor Sam McBride, who is at the forefront of our coverage, revealed in this article Coronavirus: Sinn Fein reluctantly accepts Army field hospital role that Sinn Fein has accepted that the army could have a role for building a coronavirus field hospital in Northern Ireland. 

My own personal favourite piece on the News Letter website this week was a Jonathan McCambridge column Jonny McCambridge: If it’s this hard for me, what’s it like for others? Jonathan writes brilliantly about trying to balance home schooling his young son with his role as the News Letter’s live content editor.

Going forward, we want to continue bringing you the best news, opinion and sports articles from our team of writers. 

Of course this costs money and we need a subscription model online to ensure that we can continue providing this level of content. Please click here newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions for more information and to look at our subscription options. 

If you have any questions or issues in relation to our content or subscriptions, don’t hesitate to contact me on alistair.bushe@newsletter.co.uk.

Once again, many thanks for your support. 

Stay safe

Alistair Bushe
Editor