IMAGINE life without your Thurrock Gazette.

Who’ll hold public bodies to account? Who would campaign on your behalf?

Whistleblowers would have nowhere to go to reveal wrong-doing in the community and within local organisations. Sadly, there are those who would be all too happy to see misbehaviour and the misuse of public funds go unreported by restricting the press and preventing us from exposing facts and information that some would prefer to keep secret.

There are already tough libel laws and strict regulations we must comply with to expose inequity and wrong-doing, but a new law now threatens our very existence.

An obscure piece of legislation could soon be used to impose crippling legal costs on local newspapers. Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act could force newspapers, like ours, to pay the costs incurred by both sides in a libel case, even if we are 100 per cent right! How is that fair? Put simply, it’s not.

The freedom of the press and the public’s right to know - two of the cornerstones of modern democracy - are under threat. Act now as your local newspaper really does need YOU.

If you believe in your right to know and in freedom of speech, make your voice heard at freethepress.co.uk #freethepress