Local news is out

So, the news is out -- our local newspaper, the Tivy-Side Advertiser, is to be run by people far away who know nothing about our community, and will not care about our concerns.

In recent years the paper has played a significant part in launching and running campaigns on behalf of the community - to bring Cardigan Castle into public ownership, to prevent the closure of the town's hospital, to re-open the by-pass, to challenge a decision to scrap the Meals on Wheels service in the county, to name but a few.

It has also continued to serve the community by consistently raising many issues that locals want and need to be aware of, and it has provided a forum for debate about everything from parking to flooding, to housing development and other planning matters.

Now the publishers have decided that the Tivy-Side editor is to be made redundant, and the paper will be run from an office 30 miles away, that unique community service will be lost.

Editors care about the communities they serve, whether they be the people in a geographical area, or groups with specialist interests of all kinds all over the country, or indeed the world. Without them publications become just vehicles for profit.

As the last editor of the Tivy-Side prepares to leave, it is, sadly, clear that the publishers are serving the demands of their shareholders over the interests of the local community.