OVER the last month, local newspapers across the UK have come together to champion their highly-trusted credentials and ability to make a difference

Through the Local Newspaper Week (LNW) and Fighting Fake News (FFN) campaigns, local papers up and down the country have highlighted the vital importance of local journalism and the investment and expertise required to produce it.

Organised by the News Media Association’s local marketing arm Local Media Works, the campaigns have shown how local journalism produced by news media publishers upholds and strengthens democracy whereas fake news spread via social networks subverts and undermines it.

And this becomes even more important in the context of the upcoming general election on 8 June.

Last week, the industry held a Trusted News Day which saw newsrooms open up to their readers and invite them to participate in the local newsgathering and distribution process.

The hashtag #TrustedNewsDay trended on Twitter for more than six hours, illustrating the considerable momentum behind this initiative.

This week is Local Newspaper Week and, through Making a Difference, local newspapers have turned their attention to the role of campaigning local journalism in our communities.  

To celebrate, local papers across the UK have showcased their best campaigns from the past year and highlighted to readers the successes they have enjoyed.

And we have been joined in this by high profile figures including Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron, former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and adventurer Ben Fogle, who have all given their strong support to local newspapers.

Making a Difference has shown that local papers take up and fight an extraordinarily broad range of causes on behalf of their readers.

The local newspaper industry is facing a series of challenges, from the draconian proposals to regulate the industry’s editorial content which would cripple local papers, to the siphoning off our advertising revenues by the tech giants who invest next to nothing in local news production yet profit from its distribution.

These challenges are serious and it is vital that we respond with high profile campaigns highlighting our highly-trusted credentials like the ones you have seen in these pages over the last few weeks.

But what matters most of all is the support of you, our readers and advertisers.

Your continued support and engagement will ensure that local papers have a long and bright future.

With your support, we can continue to champion the causes that matter to you, ask the questions you want answers to, and publish the highly-trusted news and information which you want to read.

So, at the end of this year’s Local Newspaper Week, all that remains is for us, your local newspaper, to offer a huge thank you to you, our readers and advertisers, for your continued support.