‘We take up the fight on behalf of our readers over things that matter to them’

THE Press has always been a campaigning newspaper. Back in 2007, we won a hatful of awards for our successful Change It! campaign, which resulted in a change in the law so that child kidnappers could be placed on the sex offenders' register.

Other noted campaigns of the past have included Close The Gaps, which lobbied for dangerous gaps on the A64 to be closed off; Justice For Terry, launched in 2007 to try to ensure that the family of late Gulf War veteran Terry Walker got the pension they were entitled to; and our Fund The Force campaign to try to protect North Yorkshire police from swingeing funding cuts.

We have fought to save Terry's, to prevent post office closures, and to encourage more people to sign up to the national organ donor resister.

That proud tradition of campaigning continues to this day. Our Take Care river safety campaign continues to highlight the dangers of York's two rivers; Be Vocal for your Local has lobbied for greater protection for local pubs; and our Stamp Out Poverty campaign continues to highlight the real poverty faced by many people in York in the wake of the recession.

Campaigning is at the heart of what good local newspapers do, says Perry Austin-Clarke, editor of The Press.

"Local newspapers like The Press are about many things," he said.

"We provide a platform for debate and discussion about local issues; we hold politicians and others in positions of influence to account; we inform and entertain and help to bind a community together."

But it is through campaigns that newspapers like The Press really come into their own, he said.

"In a good campaign, we take up the fight on behalf of our readers over the things that really matter to them.

"We lobby and press, we hassle those in authority, we make sure that the reality of poverty in York today, the urgent need to improve safety measures on our riverbanks, or the threat to the local pubs that are so important to so many of our readers, are never allowed to be forgotten.

"These are issues that really matter to the people of York. And as a journalist, I'm proud of the way we are able to take up cudgels on behalf of our readers and hopefully make a difference in their lives."

This week is Local Newspaper Week: a chance to celebrate the part that local newspapers play in the communities they serve.

The focus this year is on campaigning.

Here are some of the more recent campaigns we're most proud of:

Take Care

 Jackie Roberts, the mother of Megan Roberts

We launched our Take Care river safety campaign last year, following a spate of tragic drownings in York's rivers.

In January 2014, 20-year-old York St John University fine arts student Megan Roberts died after falling into the River Ouse near Lendal Bridge while walking home after a night out drinking with friends.

A few weeks later, 22-year-old Ben Clarkson drowned in the Foss after apparently falling in while walking home. The following month, teenage soldier Tyler Pearson drowned in April while trying to swim from King's Staith to Queen's Staith.

We launched our campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of York's rivers, and to call for action to make them safer. We focused on the anguish of family and friends who had lost loved ones; warned about the icy cold of the Ouse and the strength of its undercurrents; highlighted the dangers of drink and the importance of friends looking out for each-other as they walked home late at night; and publicised a report by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which drew attention to the dangers of the city's riverbanks.

Towards the end of last year, City of York Council earmarked £100,000 to pay for river safety improvements, including 65 new high-visibility lifebelts, extra chain-link fencing and repairs to riverside steps and viewing platforms.

Megan's mother Jackie, who has herself become a very effective river safety campaigner – pressing the city council for safety improvements and becoming a national ambassador for the Royal Life Saving Society – said there was no doubt The Press campaign had made a difference. "When something is in The Press, people take notice," she said.

Stamp Out Poverty

 Food from the Yorkshire Harvest Appeal being collected from City of York Council offices in York

We launched our Stamp Out Poverty campaign late in 2012 following a tragic front page story about the plight of young mother Kia Stone, whose 11-month-old baby Telan Carlton died after spending all her life in a damp and overcrowded flat in York.

We aimed to highlight the impact of the recession on ordinary families in York, and to examine ways in which more people could be helped out of poverty.

The following year, we joined forces with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the city council, the church, the NHS, the CAB and others to form a Poverty Action Steering Group. The group set out ambitious proposals to reduce poverty in York, including targeting the link between poverty and poor health, providing more affordable housing, campaigning on the living wage, and looking at ways to provide more affordable healthcare.

We continue to highlight the reality of poverty in modern-day York to this day.

Julian Unwin, the chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which is sponsoring a new Orwell prize for journalists who expose 'social evils' such as poverty in Britain, said The Press's campaign had been hugely important.

"Any press campaign that challenges perspectives on poverty and brings it to the attention of the community will always make a positive difference which is why the York Press’ Stamp out Poverty campaign is so important,” she said.

Be Vocal for your Local

 Landlord Paul Crossman who says that The Press campaign helped to get concerns about pubs out into the open and discussed

PUBS are a hugely important part of our way of life. A good local is a place to meet friends, relax after work, watch the game on a Saturday afternoon, or join in a pub fund-raiser.

But many of our pubs are under threat, from competition with cheap supermarket alcohol, high rates and rents, even the smoking ban.

We launched our Be Vocal for your Local campaign to highlight one particular danger: planning laws which meant a pub could be converted into a supermarket or convenience store without even needing to get planning permission.

We called on City of York Council and the Government to ensure that planning permission would be needed before a pub could be used for something else. That, we argued, would at least give regulars a chance to have their say before they lost their local.

The city council is expected to begin work on introducing a blanket 'Article 4 Direction' on all pubs in York – which would force developers to seek planning permission before changing use – this summer.

Whitehall, meanwhile, has already passed new laws which mean any pubs listed as 'assets of community value' now receive full planning protection.

Paul Crossman, licensee of York pubs The Swan, The Slip inn, The Volunteer Arms and The Woolpack, said The Press campaign had helped raise awareness of the threat to the city's pubs.

"The Press campaign gave us the chance to get these concerns out in the open, to get them discussed," he said.

Lifesavers

Alan and Bernadette Molesbury asked for donations to charity after their daughter Pat Beedle was given kidney and pancreas transplants

Our Lifesavers campaign has encouraged readers to sign up to the national Organ Donor Register, by focussing on the difference a transplant can make.

We have run countless stories about people whose lives have been transformed: people such as 47-year-old Patricia Beedle, from Rawcliffe.

Before her double pancreas and kidney transplant, Patricia was sleeping up to 22 hours a day, had a severely restricted diet, and was about to start having regular dialysis. But since her transplant a year ago, she told The Press, she had been given a 'second chance of life'. "I am back to normal," she said. "I have a part-time job. We're planning to go on holiday to Italy this summer."

Our regular Lifesavers stories have highlighted the acute shortage of transplant organs – three people die in the UK every day due to the shortage of organs – and the fact that only about a third of us have signed up to the donor register. We have also stressed te importance of telling family members about your wishes.

Our campaign has helped encourage thousands of people to sign the register. "The Press campaign has really brought organ donation to the forefront in the local area and highlighted the difference that organ donation can make to people's lives," said a spokesperson for the NHS Blood and Transplant service.

What they say about The Press

• Former York central MP Sir Hugh Bayley York was very lucky to have a daily paper, Sir Hugh said. “It means that politicians and other public officials are held to account, and the public can express their views.” Social media were all very well as public forums, he added: but there was little fact-checking, and often they were little more than one-sided propaganda.

“One thing about a professional newspaper is that journalists will have checked their facts. Journalists on a professional newspaper like The Press tried to check their facts. And when there is comment, you know it is comment.”

• Lord mayor of York Cllr Ian Gillies “The Press makes us aware of what is going on around us. It holds politicians to account. it gives a platform to everybody, the lesser lights as well as the chief executives. You can read about football, rugby, cricket, snooker, look at local leagues, and find out how other teams are doing. And if you’re driving into York and the traffic is bad, you can read The Pres and find out why. It is good to have!”

• Age UK York boss Sally Hutchinson “We see The Press as our main means of communicating with people. It is a way of alerting people to problems, telling them about events, seeking volunteers. People read The Press. My mother-in-law goes to bed with a copy of The Press and a cup of tea!”

• Letter writer Geoff Robb “Apart from once every four years in the elections, The Press is the only outlet you have to express your views about what is happening. I cannot stand outside Station Rise with a megaphone. I write to the letters page instead.”

• Adam Sinclair, chairman of City Team York and owner of Mulberry hall “The Press is part of the identity of York.”