THESE are dangerous times.  Some of the basic rights,  independent checks and  balances that still make Britain a  democracy that is the envy of much of  the world are under subtle, but  insidious, assault.

We are in danger as a society of  sleep-walking on a tide of cynicism  into losing many of the freedoms  hard fought for and defended by our  parents and grandparents.

Our newspapers are one of the  bastions of free expression and  independent thought, yet they are  under assault on so many fronts that  their very survival is under threat.

It is fashionable among some  elements of the chattering classes to  disparage newspaper journalism,  with the hacking scandal providing  the perfect stick with which to beat it.

The guilty few have caused  enormous, disproportionate damage  to the reputation of the massive  majority of honest newspaper  journalists.

We can take some comfort from the  fact that a judge with the excellent  antecedents of Liverpool’s own Brian  Leveson is chairing the inquiry into  this scandal.

He is not a man to have his  judgment coloured  by mass anti-press  hysteria.

All of this has come at a time when  our independent newspapers face  massive economic challenges to their  survival.  The digital age is fundamentally changing the ways in  which we receive our information,  with many young people never  looking at a traditional newspaper.

Meanwhile, the slump in the world  economy has seen a huge fall in   newspaper advertising revenues,  many of which were already  migrating to digital formats.

The unthinking shrug their  shoulders and ask why this matters,  when we can get our information  online. But without trained,  independent journalists to assess and  investigate, how can the end-user  begin to decide what information to  trust?

Should we trust the websites of the  official organisations to tell us the  truth? Or should we trust the  bloggers, many of which are excellent but many others with hidden agendas  or personal obsessions, who provide  their own version of events?

There are towns of significant size  in Britain today where the local  newspapers have already gone out of  business, taking with them their  online companion websites.

Their residents have literally  nowhere to go to find out from  independent commentators what is  being done in their name by their  own elected representatives.

As it says above this article, the  Liverpool Daily Post was established  157 years ago as an independent voice  for the people of this city and its  surrounding region. Today, we  publish for the last time as a daily  newspaper, thanks in no small part to  the economic problems with which  this industry is confronted.

We are changing, but we have not  been silenced. 

Our journalism continues, keeping  our audience informed live every day  through our website of the important  events that affect their lives.

And, on Thursday, the new-look  Liverpool Post will appear for the  first time, carrying on the 157-year  mission to inform, and defend, the  people of our city region.

It is a mission we believe in as  fiercely as our forefathers did when  this newspaper was launched in a  very different Britain during the  Crimean War. 

We are changing, but the flame our  journalists have carried with pride  for the past 157 years burns on.