EDITOR'S CHAIR: We will never tell you how to vote

I was delighted.

Last week it was suggested by someone else that the Argus was giving more coverage to Labour than the Conservatives.

I was pleased.

Frankly, I’m just waiting to be accused of being biased towards Plaid Cymru, Ukip and the Lib Dems to complete the set.

That’s not because I want people to think we are in favour of any political party.

But when we get the same accusations fired at us by different parties during an election period then I’m happy because it shows we are doing our job properly.

And that job is to present the arguments of the various parties to our readers in a fair, balanced and unbiased way so you can make an informed choice at the ballot box.

I’m two years way from marking 30 years at the Argus and in all that time this newspaper has been politically independent.

Our course we offer our view on many subjects. Of course, we campaign on many issues.

But we never tell our readers how they should vote.

That is not our job.

The national newspapers take a different stance and, though I dislike it, I understand why they do it.

The nationals play to their audience.

The Daily Mail knows the majority of its readership is Conservative and farther Right.

The Guardian knows the majority of its readership is Labour and farther Left.

Recommending to their readers one party or another is unlikely to lose much of their audience.

That is not the case for regional media outlets like the Argus.

Our readership, whether that be in print or – increasingly – online is made up of a whole variety of political hues.

It also includes many people who may not have any interest in politics at all.

Our job is to provide news, sport and information that appeals to as many of them as possible. Backing a particular political party would simply invite a significant proportion of our readers to turn away from us.

However, our political independence is not just a business decision.

It is also the right thing to do.

As an aside, there has been much talk in Wales in recent months of a “democratic deficit” fuelled by a decline in the readership of local newspapers.

It is something of a myth propagated by a combination of the BBC, which is in the middle of a charter-renewal campaign; academics who have never set foot in a regional newsroom; and politicians seeking a convenient scapegoat for their own failure to engage the public.

A recent study, for instance, claimed fewer people in Wales were reading newspapers and more people were consuming news online.

Let’s ignore for a moment that this is, to coin a phrase, stating the bleeding obvious.

What the study, reported with barely-concealed glee by the BBC, failed to mention was that those people reading local news online were reading it on local newspaper websites.

Our audience is growing rather than declining but it is doing so across a variety of media.

But I digress.

A fortnight today people will be going to the polls to vote for National Assembly members and for Gwent’s new Police and Crime Commissioner.

From next week, we will be publishing statements from all the candidates seeking your votes.

We won’t be commenting on what they have to say.

We won’t point you in any particular direction.

We will simply lay out the arguments and policies from each candidate and each party.

Then it will be up to you.

And that is how it should be.

I hope this newspaper will never be arrogant enough to think we should tell our readers how to vote.

We think everyone should vote.

But where you place your X is an individual choice.