One reader says local media is something to be proud of. Do you agree?

I was struck by two letters in the EDP last week and as they had a common theme I thought I might kill two birds with one stone.

One letter marked the retirement of the Rev Jack Burton as a regular columnist in the EDP and thanked him for his contribution over the years. I heartily agree. For so many years Jack's thoughtful observations have given the reader occasion to reflect, sometimes to see things in a different light - and on occasion, no doubt, to disagree with him - but always they have been worth reading. Jack's reflective view of life has become an increasingly rare thing in the world of provincial journalism and all the more valued for that.

The other letter took the local BBC to task with particular emphasis on Look East and especially its two regular presenters, lamenting among other things their presentational style. Now there are many people on television particularly the national news services (of all channels) who I think leave a great deal to be desired but the staff of Look East are emphatically not amongst them.

Presenting a regional news programme day in and day out with its various news bulletin throughout the day is an extremely demanding job requiring a degree of professionalism that is very hard to find. When done well it should appear effortless and on Look East it does and perhaps that is what your correspondent found annoying. For what it's worth, I think that many a national star of TV current affairs could profitably learn from the calmer and more thoughtful style of some of our local presenters.

Norwich is very fortunate in being the centre of a major regional newspaper chain and not one but two excellent regional television stations. Whether it is occasional newspaper columnists like Jack Burton or television presenters like Stewart White and Suzy Fowler Watt or any of the many people who work to give us a standard of journalism that is becoming increasingly rare outside the all-consuming capital, it is something that we ought to value and safeguard.

Norwich and East Anglia would be incomparably poorer without them.

Do you agree with our reader? What do you think of the local media? Let us know in the comments below or write to us at edpletters@archant.co.uk