With ASKAR SHEIBANI

Chair, DBF & CEO Comtek Network Systems Ltd

The key role regional newspapers have been playing within our local communities goes back for centuries. They are fundamentally very different from the national newspapers.

They are embedded within the fabric of our communities and regularly keep all of us informed of local issues. They promote our small businesses and hold the local governments, councillors, parliamentarians and powerful individuals to account.

They are fiercely independent and always a voice for ordinary people. They play a significant role in our local democracy. They provide entry-level opportunities and training for young aspiring journalists, some of whom have developed into our finest national and international reporters. They are, without doubt, one of the best sources of information for our elderly.

Sadly, these great local newspapers have been under severe financial pressure for a long time. The advertising they used to rely on as the main source of income has been eroding. Threats and competition from social media have been mounting, even though the remit of social media is totally different.

As we all know, but sometimes forget, social media usually reflects someone's personal opinion which is then hard to differentiate from actual fact as posts are copied and pasted. In contrast, local journalists research their stories and seek out a range of views. We desperately need to hold to factual reporting rather than the manufactured drama found on our social websites.

Realising the challenges, local newspapers have moved with astonishing speed to online broadcasting. They have to employ journalists who need to be out engaging, building the relationship with the local businesses and the community. The reporters' job should not be solely sitting in the office and writing reports and we have witnessed their value during this Covid-19 pandemic. However, this is the very reason that their operation is significantly costly.

Sadly, these local media are now under existential threat and Covid-19 has had a detrimental effect on their businesses. As they provide a crucial, much-needed public service and contribute hugely to our local democracy and economy, they should be classified as public service providers.

Surely, we cannot allow them to disappear or turn to social media as our main source of local information? I believe that treating them as a normal business which must provide profit to the shareholders is no longer sustainable. We have to be more innovative in finding a sustainable solution to protect their public service within our communities. Maybe they should be treated just like the BBC and supported by the government? Perhaps they could be reorganised into social enterprises, owned or supported by the local communities where they could be also eligible for social grants?

I urge the UK and Welsh governments to bring about legislation recognising these traditional local media as public service providers before they all disappear from our communities.