The Sentinel series changing with the times

FOUNDED in 1829 the Londonderry Sentinel remains of one the oldest continuously newspapers in Europe.

Initially the paper was printed daily and utilised Londonderry’s status as a major commercial and military port to ferry in news from across the globe. The paper throughout it’s history has occupied various premises across the city-from Pump Street with its own printing press and book binding company to the Sentinel building at Strand Road to its current home on Spencer Road.

The Sentinel down through the centuries has been renowned for moving with the technological times. Amongst the first papers to regularly harness the use of photography the Sentinel has captured some of the most important events in the city’s history from the late 19th century onwards.

And, whilst the use of colour photographs throughout newspapers has only emerged in very recent years the Sentinel first utilised the regular use of colour pictures way back in 1975, prompting a price increase for the paper from 6p to 8p!

Traditionally the Sentinel was classed as a ‘Berliner’ sized newspaper, meaning it was half way between a broadsheet and tabloid publication. The switch to the tabloid format in the last few years has demonstrated again that the paper has kept up not only with printing technology but the wishes of the readers in providing a compact, easy to carry paper that still contains the same amount of news, features and of course sport.

The Londonderry sentinel of course is not the only title in the series. The Roe valley Sentinel, a paper in its own right since the 1980’s covers East Londonderry, bringing the same coverage as the Londonderry edition to the citizens of the borough of Limavady.

Through the decades the Sentinel has prided itself on breaking many exclusives. most famously of course, the paper informed the world in 1946 that the USSR had achieved nuclear status-a story that had global ramifications. In recent years, in the best traditions of probing journalism, the Sentinel has gathered a reputation for exclusives and investigative stories that hold political and public bodies to account.

Yet again currently, the Sentinel like all other news outlets finds itself in the midst of a period of rapid change within the industry. As the internet and social media become the predominant methods of conveying news, the Sentinel as with all other JPress titles has not been found wanting in keeping up with these developments.

www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk has been established for several years as the digital version of the paper bringing readers not only in Londonderry but across the globe the news from home. But, as demands increase for gleaning news in a variety of formats-paper, website, computer based and on mobile devices the Sentinel has established a presence in all these formats.

You can now follow us on facebook and on twitter and use these formats not only to see what we are telling you, but more importantly for you to tell us what is going on in your area, tell us your thoughts on the issue of the day and indeed what it is you think the Londonderry Sentinel needs to focus more on.

In this way you, the readers, will become an increasingly important part of what constitutes your local news outlet.

183 years ago, the Londonderry Sentinel established itself as a daily newspaper-almost two centuries later the Sentinel, with its commitment to modern methods, has re-established itself as a daily news outlet in Londonderry and the entire North West.

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