IT'S easy to assume that local newspapers are less important these days than they were 150

years ago.

After all, a century-and-a-half back, when the forerunner of our sister paper the Malvern Gazette first rolled off the presses, there was no alternative to newsprint.

People had only just got used to the telegraph (the communications medium, not the national newspaper). The idea that words, images and moving pictures would be delivered to our living rooms and desks as events unfurled would have been unimaginable.

Today, of course, we have television and the Internet.

But thousands of people find there is still no alternative to their local newspaper.

Mass media such as TV and the web only deal with the big picture. It's local newspapers that tell you about the nitty-gritty - what's going on in your town, your suburb or even your street.

And they're also crucial for local business.

TV advertisements costing hundreds of thousands of pounds are no use to the small firm or self-employed craftsman.

It's through the pages of papers such as the Worcester News and the Malvern Gazette that they reach their customers.

There's no reason to think that this situation will not continue.

Whatever technological advances transform our lives in the coming decades, local newspapers will always have a role to play.

So happy birthday, the Malvern Gazette, and may you continue to serve your community for another 150 years.