Why I’ve never been prouder of Yorkshire’s news teams – Harry Gration

The very fabric of what this county stands for, and its people, is being torn apart. And yet our spirit is holding it together.

Never has there been a more vital time for all of us in regional news to make sure we get right what is happening here in the Yorkshire we all share and love.

The Yorkshire Post has been with us since 1754 as the Leeds Intelligencer. My weather colleague on Look North, Paul Hudson, would probably say I’d seen virtually all the front pages in that time!

Well, experience can be useful to put some of the challenges we face in perspective. Why? Well I believe we should cherish the role local news has in our society. Trust and accuracy should be our mantra to combat the horrifying ‘fake news’ spread on social media.

I am in a very frustrating position at the moment. Because of my age and health issues, I’ve been asked to self-isolate from my colleagues for 90 days. For someone who has lived and breathed the news virtually all my working life, this hurt me enormously.

But it was the right decision in respect for the people I work with. So now, I am a viewer and reader. The Yorkshire Post and its sister papers have already shown us how local people are doing incredible things to prop up over-stretched and under-resourced areas of our county.

Heroes who do remarkable things, putting themselves at risk: the NHS, pharmacies, supermarkets, voluntary groups, charities. What an astonishing list. It’s endless. On TV too, we have set up our own heroes section.

Yet here we are in the middle of this, the BBC and The Yorkshire Post, and all regional press facing a fight for our existence.

The BBC has been targeted by the Government for being profligate, bloated, out of touch. Yes, we do get it wrong from time to time. But can anyone really argue that what we do daily, 6.30pm, at the moment is out of touch? On the contrary, I believe it is right on the button for our county, its people and what we stand for – and you seem to be watching your millions. Thank you.

Similarly, our newspapers are often dismissed as obsolete in the current world. ‘It’s all online’ is the cry. But it’s much more than that. Scanning the internet is no way to capture the mood of a community which the newspaper represents and reflects uniquely.

What about the real stories they bring us of small businesses in closed shopping centres with income gone and still being forced to pay a landlord? Or the students not at university still having to pay rent when they are not even there?

I’m sure we’re all aware of just how stressful working can be at this time, but it won’t stop any of us. We are key workers too. It should, of course, mean that all our organisations become closer. You know, not so long ago Calendar and Look North made history with a joint broadcast in memory of Jo Cox MP.

Unheard of co-operation, widely praised. And aren’t there so many opportunities when we can help each other?

When I first started, it was very different. A real antagonism between all the rivals. Guarding our exclusives at all costs until the first edition or broadcast time. Those days are gone. It can be done and it is done.

Neighbour helping neighbour. Businesses knocking on the next door to see if they can help their previously thought-of rival. During the floods recently in Hebden Bridge, I saw this so many times. It was heartwarming and totally genuine.

Which leads me back to where I started.

Yorkshire has a place in all our hearts because we do care about what happens next door, down the street, in the city centre or out in the country. Thousands of us offer to become NHS volunteers and ring up people on spec to see if we can help, talk, anything.

So let’s share and celebrate that specialness reflected every day in print and on radio and the television. That surely is worth preserving, worth fighting for. Because when this is all over there will be just as big a story for us to tell – about how we’re all coping after the event.

We all share a common goal. To be the trusted source you go to every day. To fight fake news. I am so proud of my colleagues at Look North and I feel the same about every single journalist doing their job in the face of our biggest ever story.

That’s why local and regional news matters. Because you all matter to us. And The Yorkshire Post… I hail you.

Harry Gration is a broadcaster and presenter of BBC Look North.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor