The Ely Standard, is one of my local rags and like many other regional weeklies, used to be a great read. Then it became a freebie with a vastly reduced news content.

Today I have been informed that I have received my last free copy of the paper. A note pushed through my letterbox explained: “Due to the current economic climate and a decline in newspaper advertising revenue, we have been forced to re-align our door-to-door distribution system to market demands.”

This is a jargoned way of saying that the company can no longer afford to pay delivery charges to villages such as mine. The note adds that paid for copies will be available at newsagents, but readers are strongly urged to use the online news service.

With its reduced news and advertising content, is anyone going to want to buy this local paper any more? And not everybody owns a computer. It’s another nail in the coffin for the decimated regional press, and a very sad day indeed.

Local newspapers like the Ely Standard play a crucial role in informing people about important issues which are relevant to their daily lives, and keeping them abreast of the democratic process. These papers are as vital as local post offices in cementing – and debating – community ties and topics. We need to keep them both.