Appeal to benefit from flood special

I have a confession to make ...

The Chronicle has made money out of the flood.

On the back of last month's disaster, we have sold extra advertising and our coverage was such that extra copies of the newspaper were snapped up.

I am not complaining. Like any business, we need to make a profit to keep providing Wanganui's daily news service, and that is no easy task in the modern digital age.

But it does give me pause for thought, and a slight pang of guilt ... making money out of other people's misfortune.

I mulled over this dilemma in the wake of our story last week about photographer Mark Brimblecombe, who went through the cordon on that fateful Saturday night of June 20 and recorded what was happening to our city centre.

He produced stunning images of a historic event and made them freely available, with the Chronicle using some for our Flood Special publication. Mr Brimblecombe also has prints of the flood for sale and - if people buy - he, too, will make money from what for others was a tragedy.

He is a businessman and has to earn a living, but his commercial initiative has upset some people, whose lives were turned upside down by the flood. One can understand their feelings at a raw and emotional time.

It was an issue which sparked an interesting debate on our Facebook page and maybe it is a circle which can never be squared. After 40-plus years in newspapers, I know nothing sells as well as a natural disaster.

However, some good will come out of this. Our Flood Special was made available across the North Island and sold like the proverbial hot cakes. Even Aucklanders stopped worrying about house prices long enough to buy a copy.

The publication, with Mr Brimblecombe's photos, has raised more than $20,000 for the flood relief fund.