Thank you Ma’am!
The Queen pays tribute to trusted local news
The Queen has sent a message of support highlighting the vital role played by newspapers during the coronavirus pandemic to News Media Association members for the Journalism Matters campaign.
In the message of support, published this week, The
Queen writes: “The Covid-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated what an important public service the established news media provides, both nationally and regionally. As our world has changed dramatically, having trusted, reliable sources of information, particularly at a time when there are so many sources competing for our attention, is vital.
“The efforts of the news media to support communities throughout the United Kingdom during the pandemic have been invaluable – whether through fundraising, encouraging volunteering, or providing a lifeline for the elderly and vulnerable to the outside world.”
Meanwhile, while trusted journalism has been a vital part of the country’s response to the coronavirus crisis, the industry which produces it needs support, News Media Association chairman Henry Faure Walker said. He highlighted the campaigning initiatives undertaken by news media titles during the crisis.
He said: “This year has been one of the most disruptive and uncertain in living memory.
“Coronavirus has swept the globe leaving a trail of misery and hardship in its wake. Governments have been grappling with a relentless succession of difficult and complex decisions in order to secure the best – or least worst – outcome for their citizens.
“In the news media industry, part of our job has been to help our readers make sense of these unprecedented events. We have reported on every twist and turn of the local and national lockdowns and kept you up to date with vital public health information. “We have held power to account and robustly challenged the decisionmakers on your behalf.
“We have run campaigns to raise funds for frontline workers and awareness of the challenging work they do each day to keep us all safe.
“We have given our backing to small businesses, the engine of our economy, with free advertising to help them through these challenging times.
“We have launched initiatives to help people keep in touch with their families during the national and local lockdowns.
“We have run campaigns demanding PPE for all frontline NHS workers, and even flown PPE into the country when supplies were short.” He added:
“The local and national news media have been a fundamental part of the country’s response to coronavirus and will continue to be so.
“But journalism itself has not been immune to the challenges of the pandemic.
“Advertising revenues, the lifeblood of independent journalism, have been hammered by the economic downturn leaving us with less money to invest in the journalism we all want to read. At the local level, many news brands are in a perilous position.
“We now urgently need Government to intervene with a series of targeted initiatives to help sustain local independent journalism in this country.”