On the way home after taking part in a lively debate about the future of regional newspapers at the City of London University.

Chaired by Roy Greenslade, former editor of the Daily Mirror, there was plenty of food for thought.

My message was that there is still plenty of life in local newspapers.

A paper like The Northern Echo still has a healthy, loyal readership and it is attracting more and more readers to its website.

Advertising is well down on a year ago, thanks to the recession, but showing signs of improvement - fingers crossed that the economy goes the right way.

It's all about retaining those traditional readers and, at the same time, making sure The Northern Echo continues to embrace the digital age.

I cited the example of the King's Hotel fire in Darlington last year. Live coverage through the night on our website - video, pictures and reports - saw a surge in hits.

But a special edition of the paper the next day still sold like hotcakes. In fact, we didn't print enough copies.

People wanted to keep it as a reminder of the night a piece of local history went up in flames.

Print and web are working together - both for readers and advertisers. We just have to keep finding ways to build audiences.