THE Prime Minister has voiced her support for local newspapers and reiterated her support of the Telegraph & Argus's campaign to fight fake news.

In the run up to Local Newspaper Week, the T&A has joined forces with local and regional titles across the UK in a campaign to tackle fake news, and celebrate local journalism.

When Theresa May visited Yorkshire today to rally her candidates for the north of England, we told her about the campaign and the importance of a free and trusted press.

At its worst, fake news is deliberately and maliciously contrived to deceive the public for political or financial gain, but more frequently it presents unsubstantiated rumour through social media, gaining undeserved authority through shares and likes, while comment becomes truth and satire is confused with reality.

The Prime Minister told us the public had the right to expect accurate reporting and reflection of the news, and welcomed a campaign to promote the fight against fake news – which has become increasingly prominent on social media.

Speaking at the Barbican, in York, Mrs May said: "I think a lot of people set great store by their local newspapers with trained journalists, actually out there reporting what is happening, faithfully reporting what is happening in their local area.

"I think we should support that, and you say about a free press, it's one of the important pillars of our democracy is that we do have a free press in this country. But also we see a press that takes responsibility about how it reports news, and that's important to us. For a lot of people, they do look to their local press because they have a lot of faith and trust in their local papers."

Reporters at the T&A are fully trained, legally aware, and subject to strict regulation. We pursue honest journalism in the public interest, without influence by political parties or big businesses, and unlike social media and major digital platforms The T&A and its website are totally accountable for every single word we publish.

Every word they write is checked in local newspaper offices by qualified, senior experts and if we do make a genuine mistake, you can contact us immediately - we are real people, locally based, living in the local community.