Veteran broadcaster John Simpson confirmed what we at the Ross Gazette believe to be true, when he told the audience at Hay Festival that he believed local newspapers are here to stay. He was speaking to the audience about researching his new book, Unreliable Sources: How The Twentieth Century Was Reported.

His upbeat message echoed the keynote speech the owner of this newspaper, Sir Ray Tindle, made to the Press Gazette Local Heroes Conference in May.

Sir Ray Tindle hit out at people who were quick to write off local papers during the recession. He said: "As we begin to recover as a nation, the local press, which is read throughout every town and village in the UK, is already leading the upturn."

He told the audience at Kingston University how he started his newspaper company in the sixties by buying the Tooting Gazette and expanded to 230 titles including 150 weekly newspapers. Since the start of the recent downturn, Tindle Newspapers has seen no closures and has launched another 12 weekly titles.

Speaking at the Guardian Hay Festival, John Simpson, world affairs editor for the BBC, said: "I remember time and time again people saying newspapers are finished. Radio came and newspapers were finished. Television came and newspapers were finished. The internet came and newspapers were finished. The internet has damaged them in terms of readership but they are not finished."

This is something we know to be true at the Ross Gazette. We know there are lots of people buying the paper but we also know that we have to move with the times.

We have a website where readers can make comments, or even add their own articles and pictures, at http://www.ross-today.co.uk">www.ross-today.co.uk

And we offer a digital subscription service for people who want to stay in touch on-line with what is happening in their area.

For more information about the digital service contact the subscription department on 01600 712142.

And if you would like to see something in the paper that is not already there why not telephone 01989 562007 and tell the editorial team, Jo, Ginny and Marsha want to know what you think.