The Bath Chronicle has just celebrated its 125th year as a daily newspaper. Here, editor David Gledhill explains why he is upbeat about the paper’s future.

Since 1877 the Chronicle has fought off the competition to stay the prime source of news in Bath and the surrounding area.

So it’s not surprising that editor David Gledhill is optimistic about its celebrating its 150th anniversary.

“There definitely will be a Chronicle in whatever form, and it is my sincere belief that it will still be produced as a newspaper,” he said.

“In my lifetime people have been predicting the demise of newspapers.

“Radio was supposed to take over from newspapers and it did not.

“Television was supposed to take over from newspapers and it did not.

“And the internet was supposed to signal the demise of newspapers and it hasn’t and it won’t.

“An operation of this size is very expensive to administer; that isn’t to say that no one else can do it, but we are very good at it and we certainly like to think that we have our finger on the pulse that is Bath.”

New technology means there are many more ways news can be delivered in the future.

There are already services that text message headlines to mobile users and countless news websites.

And global communications technology means that news can be sent across continents in seconds.

But within this, Mr Gledhill is sure there is still a place for local newspapers: “There will still be buyers who want to get in touch with sellers and sellers who want to get in touch with buyers and people who want to know more about the community within which they live.”

And although there are local television and radio stations covering Bath, he said: “No other news outlet provides as much local news.

“You can listen to the radio but you will have to listen to it all day to get a fraction of what’s produced in the Chronicle.”

But he does admit to one competitor for the paper: “I think we live in an intense information age and we make choices.

“The people who buy the Chronicle have made a choice to read about their local community. We have to battle it out with all the choices in people’s day and our biggest competitor is time.

“We require people to take time out of a very busy day, but there is a thirst for knowledge that has to be fulfilled.”

The production of the newspaper has dramatically changed over the past couple of decades, with the introduction of colour and digital production.

But Mr Gledhill said that he anticipated a slow-down around the corner: “The speed of change in newspapers over the past 25 years has been really quite staggering. But there does not appear this time to be the new technologies around the corner.

“Format and fashion change. We have redesigned this newspaper three times in the past eight years. So the design will change, no doubt about it, but it is no more than a tweak.”

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