Argus editor Arron Hendy answers readers' questions

You could ask anything you like - so it could be about an issue here in Sussex or how we carry out our news coverage, how we choose stories and what we prioritise.

Thank you for sending in your fantastic questions. It is an honour to be editor of The Argus and I always want you, our readers, to be at the centre of everything we do. So it is always great to hear from you.

Jill O'Connell asked: Is The Argus going to become more regional because I would not agree with that.

Arron said: We definitely plan to remain the place to be for news in Sussex and statistics show we are the local news provider people use to read that news. With our office in the centre of Brighton this city gets lots of our attention but we will continue to cover East and West Sussex too, both with our own team and our Local Democracy Reporters, who write news for us for across East and West Sussex as well as Brighton and Hove, focussing on local councils.

Brenda Martin asked: Is the Argus keeping an eye on two Steyning matters? 1. The closure of white bridge linking Bramber with Steyning and 2. The development of farmland at Glebe farm with all the loss of green countryside and wildlife?

Arron: We have been running more stories on planning applications as we know our loyal readers care so much about Sussex. We will take a look at these. We do love it when our readers get in touch to flag what matters to them.

Karen Miles asked: Maybe put 👍🏻 or 👎 on comments. I’ve seen plenty of comments that I like but there’s nothing only report but sometimes I’d like to just press 👍🏻 instead of replying just as sometimes I may not like or agree but doesn’t warrant a reply or reporting.. I believe that would go down well with readers.

Arron: Thanks Karen it is great that you like to respond to our stories. I have passed that on to our design team to consider. We do currently have the green up arrow next to each comment for readers to show they like it.

Robert Jeffs asked: Why does The Argus online insist on creating stories when the facts of an incident aren’t known ? Case in point was Police and emergency vehicles attend cliff top incident.

Arron said: This is a very good question. When there is a live incident and we get to the scene or hear about it quickly we want to report on it straight away as it may be affecting traffic or, like in this case, also the seafront. This is so that readers know where there may be traffic, for example. At this point the emergency services are often still working out what has happened so cannot yet tell us, so Robert is right in that sense but we do have the facts that there is an emergency incident that will possibly be affecting a certain area. We will normally run these stories as a live feed so that we can run updates as soon as we have them. Sometimes there is very sensitive information that we choose not to pass on at that time for different reasons, so we will want to inform people about the incident but it may be better to hold back on some information until a more suitable time. It may be a sensitive emergency situation, for example. But we will update as soon as there is information and this helps to keep people informed of the situation so that they do not have to rely on speculation or rumour they may have seen on social media. This aspect is really important as there can often be so much speculation about an incident. We will make it clear when information is from the scene and what has been confirmed by police. The Argus plays that crucial role in providing trusted news from certain sources and explaining the information and context about where that information is from.

Sarah Ball asked: Can there be a “what’s on” section using a calendar in terms of local social and music events .. or is there one that I’ve missed ?

Arron said: We do now have an events section so if you click on What's On on the red bar at the top of the home page then MORE EVENTS which takes you HERE

I was also asked about the comments section and its moderation of any abusive and unpleasant comments. 

Arron said: "We want all contributors to abide by the rules. We certainly do not want people being offensive or posting irrelevant comments. Repeat offenders will be banned as we want to keep the comments forum for people to debate the stories. It is a constant issue though and we rely on you, our readers to click the report button when you see any inappropriate comments. If readers click the report button then comments are flagged to us - this is the process for identifying and removing comments.

Alan Flack asked: To what extent is The Argus completely independent/ non- partisan? Do you try to be ‘neutral’ like the BBC, or do/will you, as a local paper, help fight for local issues, such as pot holes and try to hold Brighton and Hove City Council to account.

Arron said: We remain politically neutral and do know we are treading that path correctly as each and every political side accuses us of supporting the other. Helping to fight for local causes and holding the authorities to account is absolutely crucial to us. You mention potholes, for example, which has been a huge issue lately. Who can forget the pothole which celebrated its first birthday last month? See the story HERE

What I think has also been really important is our series of investigations into the A&E crisis, including one with a picture which showed how bad it has become with the number of patients in corridors. Read that story HERE.

We also ran a series of stories about the upset caused by the council closing two schools. One of the big stories relating to the council has also been the ongoing bin crisis and late collections, with the story about how weapons were found at the depot.

Stephen Grant asked: Have you investigated the scandal of the helicopter pad at the county hospital? How much did it cost? Who promoted it? Will it ever be used? Even if it is used (occasionally) does it meet the Quality Adjusted Life Year test or is it just a vanity project?

Arron said: Stephen is right this is a big ongoing question. We have repeatedly asked and there has been ongoing denials of any problem. Then hospital bosses at the Royal Sussex did admit that using a  helicopter there could cause the cladding to be ripped off by the wind. It should be ready within months we reported at the end of last year, so we are asking the questions again now and you can expect an update this week.

I will respond to some more very specific questions directly. Thank you to everyone for getting in touch and supporting The Argus.