THE Gazette today joins in local newspaper week, which celebrates the difference papers like ours make to the communities they serve.

For 52 weeks a year, your favourite north Essex newspaper champions the causes that matter most to our loyal army of readers – and now for one day only we are championing ourselves.

The chance couldn’t come at a better time, as 2009 has been a tough year for papers.

Falling advertising revenue due to the recession has forced titles all over the country into making redundancies.

Doom and gloom merchants in the national press have speculated that the rise of the internet could send local print journalism into decline.

If you look at the big picture, though, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Local papers boast a bigger combined readership than national titles, with a staggering 40 million people a week perusing their pages.

Though the internet has inevitably had an impact on sales, online local newspaper sites have grabbed a huge slice of the market with 24 million readers a week.

Meanwhile, the ability of papers like the Gazette to sniff out the stories that matter most remains unrivalled.

Our parent company Newsquest Essex has more reporters on the ground than all the county’s other news organisations put together.

Spared the technical demands of broadcasters who have to spend hours putting together short segments, in our five editions a week the Gazette is able to shine a torch on every aspect of the county’s goings-on, with more than 1,000 separate items.

Your favourite paper brings you an impressive mix of news, sport, features and comment articles, plus a full page of readers letters and dozens of pictures taken by our team of skilled photographers.

Subjects covered included everything from the local parish council meeting to the power struggle in Parliament. The Gazette doesn’t need telling that it has a special place at the heart of the community, as the tens of thousands of readers who buy it every day are proof enough.

But this week, public figures from Her Majesty the Queen to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver have been queuing up to pay tribute to the role played by papers the length and breadth of the country.

The Queen said: “The traditional role of serving the community has never been more important than it is today.

“It seems to me people need a sense of community, a sense of belonging, now more than ever, and regional newspapers help to meet that need.”

Conservative leader David Cameron said: “If you’re reading this sentence, you’re amongst the 82 per cent of British people who read local newspapers like the Gazette.

“That’s 20 per cent more than the number of people who read national newspapers, and it’s one of the highest rates of newspaper readership in the world.

“By providing a common meeting-point, local papers and their websites are not only a place for reporting, commenting and criticising – they also help to stoke the sense of local identity and civic pride that we all want to see.”

Jamie Oliver said: “In hard times like these, communities need to stick together and support each other and local newspapers can play a vital role in this.  “By representing their readers and campaigning on the issues that matter to them, local newspapers provide a voice to those who can struggle to be heard.”

Your Gazette gives you the chance to show the people in power what you think of the decisions that affect your daily lives.

In the last 12 months, our coverage of Colchester Council’s plans to tear out roadside shrubs and rose bushes all over the borough was key to prompting a U-turn from bosses.

We exposed how the authority had withdrawn cash from the Shopmobility scheme for disabled people – now back in business after the health service put up funds. The paper also gave a platform to the thousands of parents opposed to the county council’s plans to close three Colchester secondary schools.

The Gazette is never afraid to expose failings on the part of the companies and organisations which spend your money – no matter how much it embarrasses the public bodies we hold to account.

We blew the whistle on how builder Banner Holdings had been sacked from its job constructing Colchester’s over-budget and over-due visual arts facility.

Just last week we revealed how the council was forced to pay £6.2 million to contractor Inspace, when its contract to refurbish housing was wound up early with hundreds of homes still needing work.

Our influence is also put to use lending support to worthy causes. This year we have pledged our support to St Helena Hospice, which is staging a 12km midnight walk in June to raise vital funds.

Within days of the launch of a series of articles promoting the event, organisers were forced to expand the number of places available to cope with demand.

The Gazette has consistently highlighted the brave sacrifice made by Colchester troops who lay down their lives for their country. The paper set up an internet Facebook group called Support Colchester’s Paras in Afghanistan which has more than 3,000 members.