SINCE 1870, The Northern Echo has been at the heart of North-East life.

With Darlington becoming the birthplace of the railways, the pioneers of the industrial revolution realised that the County Durham market town was the perfect place to launch a campaigning “Great Daily of the North”.

For nearly a century and a half, the paper has championed its region, challenged governments, fought injustice, raised huge amounts of money for local causes, and generally made a difference.

Over the years, The Northern Echo has been credited with a string of ground-breaking campaigns, including:

  • Establishing cervical cancer testing on the NHS
  • Winning compensation for haemophiliacs infected with AIDS through contaminated blood supplied by the NHS
  • Cutting heart bypass waiting times in line with the rest of Europe
  • Raising money in memory of Princess Diana to help complete the building of the Butterwick Children’s Hospice at Stockton
  • Banging the drum for County Durham to be home to the Hitachi train-building plant

Today, the media industry is embroiled in another technological revolution, with people consuming information in a variety of ways, thanks to the internet.

The modern Northern Echo is much more than just a newspaper and now it is easier to access our information and unrivalled local journalism wherever and whenever you want it.

Quality journalism costs money to produce but we have made it great value with a combination of print and online packages from just £1 per week.

Visitors to northernecho.co.uk can still access ten articles each month before being asked to register with the site. Once registered, each user will be able to read a further ten articles for free.

But those dedicated online users, who consume the most content, are now asked to pay for digital access from only £1 a week. This gives subscribers:

  • Unlimited website access
  • News on the move with our iOS and android app
  • Daily headline alerts by email
  • Full local history archive access

For those who want our news, sport, features, and local information in a combination of print and digital formats, there is the new EchoPLUS deal for just £3.47 per week.

EchoPLUS customers get the full digital package, plus The Northern Echo newspaper Monday to Saturday.

The Northern Echo is proud to have some of the best known, most trusted journalists working in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

If it’s happening in our area, they will bring you the news first – accurately and fairly – to help you cut through the mass of uninformed speculation on social media.

If you would like to subscribe, and support quality local journalism, please call Joanne Ellerton on 0800 138 1420, email echosubscriptions@nqyne.co.uk or go to the subscribe section of the Northern Echo website by clicking here.