Why ten years on, I still believe in the power of print - Ismail Mulla

Not only that but in 2022, I would be presented with the honour of becoming Comment Editor, stepping into the post once occupied by my good friend, mentor and colleague, the late, great Tom Richmond.

Tom was a titan of the newsroom, an old-school no nonsense journalist who was a great champion for our region. I still miss the days when he would ask me to stand over his shoulder and read the latest exocet missile he’d directed at those in positions of power.

Over the past ten years I’ve learnt a lot from people like Tom. And Bernard Ginns, the first business editor I worked under and the man who took that chance on a nervy 23-year-old.

He was followed by Mark Casci, who helped me continue to thrive. And the guidance of their deputy Greg Wright was never far away.

Then there is the current editor, James Mitchinson, without whose backing I’d not have lasted the decade.

A lot has changed since I joined. The Yorkshire Post has transformed into a truly multimedia operation. The title has changed hands several times.

The political landscape is no longer recognisable compared to what it was in 2014. We’re onto the sixth Prime Minister, we’ve gone from Coalition to Tory majority government to minority to majority again. And now a return to Labour.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. The principles of journalism have not changed. How we deliver the news, analysis and commentary may be slightly different but telling stories, speaking up for our communities and holding those in power accountable remains.

And that brings me to our oldest medium…print. Digital evangelists have sought to diminish the value of print. But while I’ve seen digital innovation come and in some instances go, print has remained the one constant.

Print is what got me into this game. I remember one balmy summer evening flicking through my dad’s copy of a newspaper that he had been reading on that day’s commute to work.

Like any sports mad 10-year-old, it was the latest football and cricket dispatches that interested me the most. But at the urging of my dad, I read the news pages and loved the writing conventions deployed by reporters.

There was also the tactile feeling of a paper, the ink stained finger tips after and the ability to tuck it under your arm and return to it later.

It was at that age that I set my heart on becoming a newspaperman.

Print also aids comprehension and focuses the mind with no links or tabs to distract the reader. The serendipity that comes with multiple stories printed on a broadsheet cannot be replicated on social media.

Now it would be foolish and dangerous to sit here and claim that all is well when it comes to print journalism. The newspaper industry still faces challenges. But it and The Yorkshire Post in particular is worth fighting for.

The people that I work with treat it as a vocation, not a job. We know what this institution means to our readers. And no one is complacent about the difficulties ahead.

But it's worth actually celebrating the fact that print is still alive, and let’s not forget that The Yorkshire Post has been around for 270 years.

That’s not to say that we turn away from digital platforms. I truly believe it is symbiotic. The Yorkshire Post’s subscriber offer online provides everything that makes this title unique in a digitally convenient way.

Though as I mark ten years at this august title, I’d like to pay homage to the power of print. A world without it would be a poorer place and certainly my life would have been completely different.

That is why I hope that more readers will back The Yorkshire Post in print and online. It, after all, does belong to the proud folk of Yorkshire.

As for me, once a newspaperman, always a newspaperman, if people will still allow that to be said in this day and age.