I've never worked for what you might call a "big" newspaper.

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I've always worked in the regions, and I have no regrets.

Over more than three decades, I've worked for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth, The Cairns Post, The Maitland Mercury, The Examiner in Launceston and, for the past 25 years, The Canberra Times.

(I did get offered a chance to work for The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, but got major cold feet. I didn't think a country girl like me would survive in the big smoke.)

And I've always loved local news. I want to write about things people are talking about in their own communities. Answer questions they might have. Record the big stories, sure, but also the minutiae. Get to the heart of things, if we can. Celebrate people, share their triumphs and their heartaches. Listen to them and help them.

So a report released last week that showed people want more - not less - local news was no surprise.

The report by the University of Canberra and RMIT University found that regional audiences, especially, want relevant, trusted, local news.

"Regional audiences want more hyperlocal news, human-interest stories and practical information like weather and local events," the report's lead author, Professor Sora Park, said.

The report also found that "trust in local news remained higher than national or international media, especially when journalists had local knowledge and community ties".

"People trust local news because journalists have local knowledge and tell locally relevant stories," Professor Park said. "This is usually because the journalists live in,........

© Canberra Times