MEET Daniel Vassie - the Southern Daily Echo's new reporter who will be focusing on the views and concerns of the local community.

Daniel Vassie is one of the 83 community reporters based at regional newspapers across the country.

He will be focusing on community-related issues across southern Hampshire, but will initially be focused on the Eastleigh area.

The 19-year-old has just finished his National Council for the Training of Journalists course at Highbury College, in Cosham.

Dan said: "I am really excited to get started and begin my career as a Journalist with the Daily Echo and I have been given a great patch to do so.

“I want to get off to a flying start and integrate myself with the community of Eastleigh, in order to bring forward the best community stories from an area that deserves an increased coverage on line and in print.

"While Eastleigh is brand new to me, I know that the area has a good community spirit, with a variety of events and projects running all year round.

Dan’s initial focus area is Eastleigh town centre and the surrounding areas - he will be using social media to voice the community's thoughts and stories. These stories will then be published in the Southern Daily Echo.

Dan, from Cosham, added: "Being a community reporter is amazing because it will allow me to dive deep into my patch and experience the best of local journalism, which is what I realised I love while completing the NCTJ course earlier this year.

"I want to connect to as many people as I can through social media and meet as many people as I can to make sure people's stories are being heard”.

Facebook donated £4.5 million to the NCTJ, the National Council for the Training of Journalists, to make this project possible. The two-year Community News Project is the first of its kind and also aims to bring more diversity into newsrooms.

Dan is the second journalist to join the Southern Daily Echo under the Facebook Community Reporter scheme.

His colleague Adam Nixon joined the team in July and in responsible for covering the Romsey area.

If you have a story for Dan, you can contact him on daniel.vassie@dailyecho.co.uk or call 02380 284472.

You can also contact him on Facebook by searching Dan Vassie, or follow him on twitter at @VassieDan.