Two senior broadcasters who started their careers in the regional press have recorded video messages of support for the industry to mark Local Newspaper Week.

The annual event, organised by the Newspaper Society to highlight the importance of local newspapers, begins on Monday.

Local newspapers are planning to mark the week by planning a host of community-led initiatives and campaigns – partly as an antidote to the negative news surrounding the recession.

And broadcasters John Humphrys and John Sergeant have given video messages of support to the local press in celebration of the week which editors will be free to upload to their own newspaper websites.

Mr Humphrys, whose career began at the Penarth Times and the Western Mail, says: “Local papers bring the way the community works into everybody’s home.

“If we don’t have local newspapers who is going to do that? If people don’t know what is going on in their community, how are they going to hold to account the people that run their lives? In the end, that is the point of local newspapers. They are essential.”

Former Liverpool Echo journalist Mr Sergeant adds: “Local papers are not just amazing training grounds for people like me, but they also infuse the community with that lifeblood of information, democracy and informed comment.

“Without local newspapers you don’t get a proper sense of community. You get no ordinary way of living.”

Both messages are available to upload from the Local Newspaper Week Website together with other messages from the likes of David Cameron and Jamie Oliver.

In other initiatives and community campaigns being planned to mark the week: