Southend Echo reporter Jo Bowring was among the speakers at a public meeting orgainsed by the National Union of Journalists as part of its Journalism Matters campaign.

The local newspaper reporter told an audience of more than 100 people that cuts in staffing and resources had hit almost all newspapers over the past few years.

She said that she and younger journalists like her were concerned about "the worrying changes which, if allowed to continue, could spell trouble, not just for the future of the press, but for political engagement and local accountability".

The meeting in London was the latest event in the NUJ's national campaign, which it says aims to protect quality journalism and its vital role in democracy, and to reverse cutbacks across the industry and ensure proper investment.

Also speaking was media commentator Roy Greenslade, who said journalists should embrace new technology, but that content was still king.

He said: "We are in the middle of a revolution, a communications revolution, and we should embrace that. There are those who try to portray us as the counter-revolutionaries. We’re not.

"On the other hand we can't be swept aside by owners who are using that revolution for their own ends - to make profits.

"The owners can come up with as many digital 'products' as they like, but there’s only one product that counts, the product of our labour, journalism. Content, editorial content, is what matters.

"The journalism that really matters is public service journalism. Journalism for the public benefit.

"Yes, it costs money. It is labour-intensive. But it's worth fighting for because it is the journalism that sustains our democracy."

Freelance journalist Eileen Short added: "It's local papers that can challenge and hold to account the concentration of power. Journalists must have the resources and confidence to do so."

NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear said: "We were challenged to come up with a clear response to the vision of those who own and control our media. We have done so.

"Ours is a vision which embraces the new technologies but embraces them not as a means of delivering cost-cutting and cheap repackaged news but as a means of delivering quality content and better journalism."