THIS week the Newcastle Herald and the other NSW newspapers of the ACM network asked Premier Dominic Perrottet and Labor's pick to take his job at the March election, Chris Minns, if they would help protect the future of local news by guaranteeing, as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has done down south, a full page of state government advertising in every regional paper every week.
We also asked whether, if they are leading our state's next government come March 26, they will reverse the legislative amendment in 2020 that removed the long-standing requirement for local councils to openly advertise development applications and other council business in the local paper.
Given the importance of this newspaper as an independent voice for this community, and the challenges our industry faces with rising costs for newsprint and newspaper production and distribution, we are asking governments - at all levels - to think about how they can most effectively support the local papers that keep regional people informed and connected.
Is there a degree of self interest in putting these questions on the front page earlier this week?
Yes, of course, we want this masthead and others in the ACM network to stay in business so that our local journalists can continue championing local people and questioning premiers and councils on the issues that matter to local taxpayers and ratepayers.
The guaranteed state government advertising we're proposing would help all regional newspapers in NSW, by the way, not just ACM's.
And we think it should be funded from existing ad budgets. We don't want grants or handouts, or any extra burden on the taxpayer.
As for councils, while the savvy ones continue to openly advertise DAs and other decisions in their local paper, others bury public information in the darkest recesses of their own websites.
We believe that what we're asking is reasonable.
And if we don't ask governments how much they actually care about the credible, independent local news that our loyal audiences demand and deserve - and the journalism jobs and small business advertising opportunities that regional newspapers bring - who will? Global digital platforms? The ABC?
So far, Mr Minns has stuck with what appears to be his small-target election strategy and said nothing.
We hope he returns our calls.
We assume he's been busy listening to his MPs around the state who no doubt appreciate how strongly their constituents feel about their local paper.
The Perrottet government's initial response came in a 179-word statement that talked about "media platforms targeting regional audiences" but failed to use the word newspaper once.
You wouldn't read about it.
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