Liverpool Post editor Mark Thomas has spoken of the “extraordinary challenges” facing the newspaper industry in a farewell column for his paper.

Today’s edition of the Post is the last after Trinity Mirror decided to close the title after 158 years of publication.

In a first-person piece looking back at the paper’s history, Mark set out some of the reasons why the paper had to close.

He also predicted the paper’s “investigative spirit” would live on in its sister daily title the Liverpool Echo.

Wrote Mark: “These have been extraordinarily challenging times for the newspaper industry. The reasons for that have been well rehearsed, so I will touch on them only briefly here.

“The digital revolution has seen the role of the printed newspaper marginalised. Many of us still read newspapers, but less frequently than we used to, with so much pressure on our time and so many other ways to access up-to-the-minute news and information.

“For the younger generation of digital natives growing up today, the tablet and the smartphone have almost entirely supplanted the newspaper.

“Much of the local advertising upon which regional newspapers traditionally relied has also migrated online. That and the arrival of the world economic downturn of recent years has added up to a perfect storm for the newspaper industry.

“Turning the Liverpool Post from a daily to the current weekly title in early 2012 was a move which helped to sustain the title for a while longer, but the sad reality is that we had reached a point where our advertising and circulation revenue were no longer enough for the newspaper to remain viable.

“It seems hard to believe that this is the last article I will ever write for the Liverpool Post. But the encouraging news is that our dedicated team of journalists will continue to cover the city region, as part of an expanded team bringing extended coverage to the Liverpool Echo.

“There are some politicians, and some people in public life in our own city region, who will today be celebrating the end of the road for the Liverpool Post. Without our scrutiny, they may be tempted to breathe just a little more easily.

“They should not relax their guard too much. The Liverpool Post may not be publishing anymore, but its investigative spirit is alive and well in the Echo and in journalists who will continue to fight for your interests and to uncover the important truths that officialdom would be happier to keep under wraps.”

Mark’s piece can be read in full here.