This newspaper ad campaign re-enforces lockdown message – The Yorkshire Post says

It explains why today’s edition of The Yorkshire Post – and titles across the country – features a landmark four-page advertisement, paid for by the Government, to implore families to keep heeding these key protocols.

And it is also recognition that the regional media, including this publication, rank amongst the most trusted and influential of all – indeed the catalyst of Yorkshire-born Captain Tom Moore’s incredible walk for the NHS was a press release sent to his local newspapers.

Nevertheless, these are testing and traumatic times. As the number of hospital patients to die from Covid-19 approaches 15,000, the lockdown is coming at an unprecedented price to the national economy and forbearance of every family continues to be demanded.

Yet Ministers also concluded, and rightly so, that the need to slow down the transmission of coronavirus must continue to take precedence and it is local communities which are on the frontline in this war against an invisible enemy, hence today’s collaboration.

This does not come at the expense of scrutiny of Ministers. Quite the opposite. The role of trusted newspapers takes on added significance at times of crisis like this – especially when concerns over social care failings are so grave.

But it is also encouraging that Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary and Northern Powerhouse Minister, is holding talks with leaders here to ensure that North is at the vanguard of the national recovery. However that time will only come if people keep obeying the Government’s ‘stay at home’ mantra until told otherwise. Please remember that we’re still all in this together.

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