Why The Chichester Observer's new app is a step in the right direction for local news

In a letter dating back to 1961, American playwright Arthur Miller wrote “a good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.” Coming back to those words decades later, it’s hard not to feel all that time bearing down on you. Today, it seems like the world is talking to itself all the time; across a thousand formats, in a million different voices – from podcasts to TikToks, tweets to YouTube documentaries. How do you make sense of all that noise? Who can you trust? And how do you find what’s important to you?

The Chichester Observer news app, released earlier this year, allows us to cut through the noise and do what we have always done: champion our communities. Miller was right to recognise that news is the medium through which a community discovers itself, over and over again, and it’s clear that international issues have grassroots consequences. From sewage dumps to overdevelopment, flash floods to economic downturn: Observer journalists have been there to make local stories hot-button topics since 1887. With your support we’ll be here even longer, doing an even better job than before.

In recent years local journalism has been under enormous financial pressure which has resulted in on-line stories being overwhelmed with pop-up advertising. This app is completely different - moving the dial back to the halcyon days of local newspapers.

You can support what we do with a digital subscription to the app from less that £1 per week (£3.99 a month) and try it completely free for your first month. If you buy an annual subscription after your free trial month it will cost only £29.99.

Apple users can find the app in the app store and Android users can download from Google Play store.

We do hope you will support us. In becoming a subscriber you will help to protect the Observer’s renowned quality journalism.

You can also contribute your own community reports to the app and to the newspaper. Simply log on to https://submit.nationalworld.com/?ref=SUWD and select Sussex World from the menu.

Please take advantage of the free trial - and do tell us what you think.