Dear Reader,

I am delighted to introduce myself to you as the new editor of The News, covering Bracknell, Wokingham and Ascot.

I have recently been appointed regional newspaper editor of Newsquest Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, taking over the helm from my predecessor, Andrew Colley who has been promoted within our company to newspaper editor at the Oxford Mail.

As a Berkshire girl, this is something of a homecoming for me. Having worked as a journalist and editor in Devon, London and most recently, Hampshire. Here I am, back where I started, covering the corner of the country I know very well.

Community and a sense of familiarity has become all the more important in the past two years as coronavirus stopped our routines in their tracks and made our world much smaller.

As we rebuild ourselves, our businesses and our towns, I pledge that as your new editor, I will be on hand to provide a platform to all in the community to showcase your successes, share your views and stories and celebrate all the good that is happening locally.

And of course, we will be there in the tough times too. The importance of trusted, local journalism has never been more vital than in this era of fake news.

Whether it is asking difficult questions of the council, challenging those in positions of power is a vital role of a local newspaper. The News will continue to be a campaigner on behalf of everyone in the borough and won’t shy away from holding authorities to account for the decisions they make.

Whether this means championing charity heroes who are making a difference, scrutinising our local government is or shining a light of the good work being done by local businesses, we want to make sure the community is represented in our pages - week in and week out.

In an age of social media where anyone is a publisher, we need strong and robust local papers such as my titles to separate fact from fiction and to provide safe, reliable updates that you can trust.

That is why one of my key objectives for 2022 is to build and grow our websites that cover Bracknell, Ascot and Wokingham. And we are already off to a great start, with The News' web traffic up year-on-year.

If you haven’t already, I would invite you to follow our accounts on Facebook and subscribe to stay up-to-date with what is happening.

If you have a story, an event to promote or you simply want to get in touch, I would love to hear from you. Please do reach out anytime.

I feel privileged to be your new editor and I am looking forward to meeting as many people in the community as I can.

Katie French

katie.french@newsquest.co.uk