At the black tie banquet to celebrate Paul Dacre’s 25 years as editor of the Daily Mail in 2017, Doreen Lawrence sat at the editor’s side. In 1997, the paper’s front page had pictured five men under the headline “Murderers”. Later that year Jack Straw, as home secretary, set up the Macpherson inquiry into the handling of her son Stephen Lawrence’s murder, bringing in legal changes that would go on to allow the prosecution and conviction of two suspects.
It was considered the essence of public service journalism. But more than that, it became a shield with which Dacre and the Mail were able to defend themselves from accusations that his paper deployed racism and discriminatory attitudes as part of the main title’s USP. It was also used by industry figures who cited the Mail’s stance on behalf of the Lawrences as evidence that the mainstream media is a force for harmonious good.
