Good evening and here are the tweets - why journalism matters more than ever

This week, The Queen issued a rallying cry of support for local newspapers and their websites, as part of the Journalism Matters campaign that is running right now.
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It conjures up a lovely image of Prince Philip stopping off at the corner shop on the way home to the castle, in order to pick up the family copy of the Windsor Express.

Yet in fact it is a much-appreciated show of support at a very difficult time for the industry.

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Ironically, people are realising how hugely important trusted information about their local community is – just as regional media newsrooms are facing dark days as both print sales, and the money from advertising that helps pay for professional journalism, gets squeezed.

The Queen has send a message a of support to news organisations, highlighting the important work they doThe Queen has send a message a of support to news organisations, highlighting the important work they do
The Queen has send a message a of support to news organisations, highlighting the important work they do

News organisations have also seen revenue vanish to tech giants who have Hoovered up the lion’s share of on-line advertising cash, despite not producing any content of their own.

Australia is set to become the first country to force Facebook and Google to pay publishers and media companies for their news content.

You may say that business is business and good luck to Google and co for spotting a very lucrative opportunity.

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But there’s more at stake here than just businesses – or even the thousands of jobs that come with them.

It can come as quite a shock to people my age when they learn that the teenage generation gets most of its news content via Twitter.

Don’t get me wrong, tweets can be a vital source of information, especially in an evolving situation.

But it’s difficult to get any kind of nuance or context into 280 characters.

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Which is perhaps that’s why it’s Donald Trump’s megaphone medium of choice.

I believe that every town, every community is the poorer for not having local journalists properly covering the issues that matter to the people living there.

And, yes, quite clearly I have a vested interest – it is, after all, what is putting food on our family table tonight.

But I’d go one believing that even if I didn’t work in the industry.

If journalism really is the first draft of history, you definitely want someone you trust writing it.