We have been by your side, bringing news that you trust - since 1737

Against the backdrop of Covid 19 and the tragedies that it has brought and still threatens to bring as infection rates climb once more, we have all had to make sacrifices, each and every one of us, in order to play our own part in saving lives.

Curbs on our freedoms; restrictions on our movements; curtailments on our relationships; strains on our businesses and jobs; cancellations to hospital appointments and holidays. This virus has crept into every nook and cranny of our lives and but for the strength of so many people - key workers in particular, putting the safety of others before their own - that damage would most certainly have been tenfold.

Here at the News Letter we have been through some dramatic changes too since the lockdown in March with every member of our news, features, and sports teams, plus our digital and newspaper print production departments - as well as all of my management team - now working from home.

It was a very challenging experience to deal with almost overnight change from office-based to home working and still reliably deliver the newspaper each morning in print plus continue to publish our hugely popular online news service and digital subscription packages.

You may not know this but all of us at the News Letter took a pay cut throughout the lockdown period to help us get through the sudden loss of newspaper sales and advertising that came immediately with the unprecedented shutdown of normal life that we saw in March

We need to be there for people - I know from personal experience how much our readers value the News Letter’s reporting and that seeing their newspaper each day remains at least one comforting reminder of normality.

The effects of lockdown and of the ongoing Covid crisis on the publishing industry have been dramatic - and we have not been spared. We are a business and it is our newspaper sales and advertising revenues that allow us to keep producing what is a favourite newspaper for tens of thousands of people.

On a broader scale, in line with all reputable newspapers like ours, we are increasingly beset by the rising tide of fake news, gossip and misinformation masquerading as ‘news’ on social media and by the rise and rise of digital advertising giants such as Facebook and Google. All of this combined represents a serious challenge to quality publishing and is under review by governments both at home and abroad.

Now - more than ever - we need support from our readers and this is at the heart of the initiative I am about to launch.

I’m doing this because we know we know we continue to be relevant and important to society in Northern Ireland - our newspaper sales have reduced but certainly not disappeared, our digital audiences have soared and an online subscription package for the News Letter is proving very popular indeed.

People still want us to do what we do best - our rigorous and often brave journalists reporting without fear or favour, standing up for unionism, celebrating faith, defending rural interests and lifestyle, sharing the beauty of our environment, backing farmers, informing and entertaining readers in good heart as we have done for hundreds of years. We are after all the oldest daily newspaper in the English language.

In all that time we have stood by the side of our readers, bringing local, regional, national and international news - that you can trust - to multiple generations of so many families.

Not least, we are regulated, responsible and accountable.

So, in the coming days and weeks, we will bring to you some words from people you will recognise. Testimonials from our friends. References, if you like, to our character and our qualities in the hope that our current friends can help us to win new ones.

It’s our way of sharing positivity, confidence and faith in the News Letter as we work hard to ensure the title continues to serve its loyal readership - who knows, perhaps for centuries more.

Yours faithfully

Alistair Bushe, Editor