SOME people hate the Worcester News and I can understand why.

If you're a criminal and we've covered your court case, or you're a councillor who has been lambasted for a decision and we've reported the outcry, you probably loathe the Worcester News.

That's fair enough, but we're just doing our job: giving the people of Worcester the news they want to read. And, as our website and newspaper sales figures show, our readers want to know about the dirty deeds of local convicts and the cock-ups of councillors.

Although technology has made the world smaller, with the internet giving us access to news across the globe, people still want to know what’s going on in their community – whether that's a positive story about, say, charity fundraising or a juicy scandal where, for example, almost an entire family has ended up in court for dealing drugs.

At the Worcester News, we try to meet that desire for local news by being ‘hyper local’ and reporting everything that happens in the city, from crashes which close roads to church fetes to the activities of school pupils, and we get just as much satisfaction from a story about a 100th birthday that will be treasured by one family as we do a hard-hitting exposé of corruption which is read by thousands of people.

However, we now have a smaller team than ever before because – and this is no great secret – fewer people are buying the newspaper and businesses which once spent their entire advertising budget in the local newspaper are now dividing that pot between Facebook, Google, various other places and us.

Although our overall readership is rocketing (research shows that we now reach around 90 per cent of Worcester's adult population through our website, social media channels and the newspaper), the revenue from that digital growth is yet to offset the decline in print advertising.

What does that mean to you, our readers? Well, we have fewer reporters than ever before and even fewer news editors, and so with everyone working harder and having more to do, grammatical and typing mistakes are sometimes made and sometimes published.

Also, we're no longer able to physically attend absolutely everything that happens in the city and instead rely on our loyal supporters to help by supplying information and pictures.

However, we pride ourselves on rarely missing anything significant and, as a result, as much as we're despised by those who are the subject of a negative story, we’re loved by those we help.

If you’re a family raising money for a sick child, a cherished teacher surprised by a gift from pupils, or just a couple celebrating a milestone anniversary, you’ll love us because we’ve reported your story.

People will always want local news so there will always be local newspapers – and although more and more people are reading their news online, many still want a printed paper which rounds up the best of the online news, and I don't think that will change as many people prefer the physical publication over digital. After all, if you've been in the paper, you can frame the page - it's not the same with a web article.

Also, just look at the Kindle - there was an initial surge in sales but that has plateaued and there has been a resurgence for paperbacks and hardbacks. I think the same will happen with newspapers.

This week is Journalism Matters week, to raise awareness of the importance of local newspapers. See http://www.journalismmatters.co/