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Today marks World Press Freedom Day.

You may be thinking ‘What’s that got to do with Caerphilly Observer? It’s a local news service.’

While it’s true our ability to cover local news may not be faced with an explicit authoritarianism threat (although some politicians can often be unhappy with our coverage), our challenge is more of a mundane, yet fundamental, nature.

It costs money to cover local news professionally.

From the feel-good news which helps bind our communities, to the questioning of elected politicians, we all have to get paid. Then there are the fixed costs such as office rental, insurance, newspaper printing, the list at times can be endless.

I started on the, now defunct, Campaign newspaper 20 years ago and in that time the journalism industry has gone through a protracted revolution brought on by a combination of the internet and resulting bad business decisions.

I perhaps naively thought I could do a better job at local news than the bigger companies and so Caerphilly Observer was born 15 years ago as a website.

Back then it was a part-time hobby, but since 2009 we have grown to be the de facto local news service for the area.

But the old business model of local journalism supported by local advertising is disintegrating. We’ve been lucky so far. The success of our print edition means advertisers are still willing to pay to be in print to reach the right audience, but social media and search engines means there are now more ways than ever to market.

The knock-on effect is that local journalism across the UK is dying.

Caerphilly Observer is seen differently and the work of our local journalists is recognised as a leading light of independent media contrasting against the darkness our industry faces.

Why is local journalism important? Without it we wouldn’t know about the decisions made by those in power that affect our communities; the concerns from local businesses about rising costs, the great work carried out by organisations like SYDIC and HCT.

Digital display advertising brings in pennies, and for publications to survive that means scale. That’s why the likes of WalesOnline, the South Wales Argus, and others chase clicks with stories about secret Greggs menu items and reviews of Wetherspoons.

While there is a place for that kind of content, we can’t do that because of our focus on Caerphilly County Borough, nor would I want us to do that.

The future of a sustainable local media is one where our readers are with us in supporting our aims and supporting us financially.

We currently have a community of 130 paying members, but this needs to grow if we are to continue and develop what we do.

It costs from just £1 a month (although members often support us with more) and for that you can use our website without adverts – taking the commercial pressure off us.

The more readers who support us, the more journalism we can do and the more we can stave off the commercial threat to our local press freedom.

Richard Gurner

Editor and Publisher of Caerphilly Observer