The Daily Mail

Owned by: Daily Mail and General Trust, owned by Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere

Editor: Paul Dacre

Political leaning: Right / far right

Daily circulation: circa 1,490,000

Today’s leading headline: How the hell could it happen?

The image of Grenfell Tower ablaze is struck across the front page of the Daily Mail today. The paper asks the question many are feeling — how could a fire start and spread so quickly? Per the paper, survivors of the fire were furious as ‘they’d warned the refurbished council block was a disaster waiting to happen’.

Afterthought: All the papers today reflect their horror at yesterday’s events. Questions will now be asked as to how the landlords could have allowed this to happen. There have been calls not to politicise this fire, however many point to rumours that have emerged claiming the outside of the tower was covered in a cladding that made the building look prettier, but carried a fire risk. Likewise, Boris Johnson, the Conservative previous London Mayor, has come under fire for his huge cuts across the fire departments during his rule, which many claim seriously damaged the fire fighters’ ability to work last night.

Finally, let’s have a look at the Daily Mail’s history when it comes to basic health and safety regulations.

How the hell indeed

The Daily Telegraph

Owned by: Telegraph Media Group, owned by Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay

Editor: Chris Evans

Political leaning: Right

Daily circulation: circa. 460,000

Today’s leading headline: ‘Disaster waiting to happen’.

In a similar vein to the other papers today, the Telegraph labelled the fire a ‘disaster waiting to happen’. The fire, which so far has caused the death of at least twelve people, is on track to become ‘one of the worst fire tragedies in British history’ claims the paper. Whole families are still missing, as the fire continues to blaze.

Afterthought: Questions will be asked as to how a fire of this magnitude could spread so quickly. Investigations will need to cover not just the landlords, but also the MP’s who through voting against stricter regulations enabled tragedies like this to exist.

The Times

Owned by: News UK, Rupert Murdoch’s company.

Editor: John Witherow

Political leaning: Right

Daily circulation: circa. 446,000

Today’s leading headline: Disaster in 15 minutes.

In a similar theme, today’s Times reports on speed at which the fire consumed the building. It gives the figure of 15 minutes, and reports horror stories of people throwing their children out of windows to avoid the fire. The paper goes on to state that the fire was ‘unprecedented in its scale and the speed with which it engulfed the tower’.

Afterthought: The building’s residents consisted of families from a lower economic background. Anger has arisen, as many feel that this would not have taken place in a wealthier part of London.

The Guardian

Owned by: Scott Trust Limited, run by a board with a policy of non-interference.

Editor: Katharine Viner

Political leaning: Left

Daily circulation: circa. 161,000

Today’s leading headline: The warnings were ignored.

The Guardian today follows suit, reporting that residents of the flat warned this would happen if no action was taken. The paper reports at least a dozen dead, and that the Prime Minister has promised to investigate.

Afterthought: The Grenfell Action Group a group of residents who attempted to bring about change in their block, published an article last year berating their landlord. Within, they stated that they ‘have reached the conclusion that only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO residents will allow the external scrutiny to occur that will shine a light on the practices that characterise the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation.’

The i

Owned by: Johnston Press, whose CEO is Ashley Highfield, significant ties to the BBC

Editor: Oliver Duff

Political leaning: Centre

Daily circulation: circa. 264,000

Today’s leading headline: Tragic. Horrific. Avoidable.

As with the other papers, the i today notes the human tragedy, and how it could have been avoided. The paper reports that the ‘former minister had been urged to release report’ after a previous deadly fire, and that ‘local people had repeatedly raised concerns about the block’s fire safety’, as mentioned above.

Afterthought: As more and more details come to light, the sheer incompetence of the local council becomes more apparent. Jail time is an inevitability.

The Daily Mirror

Owner: Trinity Mirror. Its chairman is David Grigson, formerly the chief financial officer at Reuters

Editor: Lloyd Embley

Political leaning: Left / far left

Daily circulation: circa. 716,900

Today’s leading headline: Deathtrap

Today’s Mirror covers the same topic, the fire. It adds that as many as 78 have been injured as the fire continues to burn. The paper repeats the claim that residents warned of this tragedy four years ago, and nothing happened.

Afterthought: Outrage dominates the headlines of our media today. However, the next step is to productively act on this –scrutinise the landlords and the MP’s that allowed them to get away with this. Unfortunately given the 24/7 news cycle we currently live in this seems unlikely.

Financial Times

Owner: The Nikkei, which is based in Tokyo.

Editor: Lionel Barber

Political leaning: Centre

Daily circulation: circa. 193,211

Today’s leading headline: Deadly fire in London spurs safety debate.

The Financial Times covers both the fire in London and the Federal Reserve raising interest rates ‘despite pattern of weak inflation figures’. As I have covered the former, I will attempt the latter.

This is the second time in three months that the rate has gone up, reflecting confidence in a growing U.S economy.

Afterthought: I’m going to be honest, I struggle to understand the intricacies of the Fed raising interest rates. Apologies.

The Sun

Owner: News UK, owned by Rupert Murdoch

Editor: Tony Gallagher

Political leaning: Right / far right

Daily circulation: circa. 1,611,464

Today’s leading headline: They were told it was safe.

Today’s Sun covers the fire, devoting a huge amount of the paper into its investigation.

Afterthought: The paper notes that a ten-million-pound refurbishment was completed only weeks ago. The anger is palpable.