Liverpool Post editor Mark Thomas has been reflecting on the reasons his newspaper has been axed after 158 years of publication.

In a farewell column about the "extraordinary challenges" facing the newspaper industry, he points first to the impact of the digital revolution.

The role of the printed newspaper has been "marginalised.", he writes. "Many of us still read newspapers, but less frequently than we used to, with so much pressure on our time and so many other ways to access up-to-the-minute news and information.

"For the younger generation of digital natives growing up today, the tablet and the smartphone have almost entirely supplanted the newspaper."

Then he turns to the internet's effect on the placement of advertising:

"Much of the local advertising upon which regional newspapers traditionally relied has also migrated online. That and the arrival of the world economic downturn of recent years has added up to a perfect storm for the newspaper industry."

He concedes that the decision by the paper's owner, Trinity Mirror, to turn the Post from daily to weekly publication in January 2012 was only ever going to offer temporary respite.

"The sad reality is that we had reached a point where our advertising and circulation revenue were no longer enough for the newspaper to remain viable," he writes.

But he tries to see the closure in a positive light by arguing that staff will now concentrate their efforts on providing copy for the Liverpool Echo.

And he warns local politicians who might "be celebrating the end of the road for the Liverpool Post" not to relax their guard by writing.

"The Liverpool Post may not be publishing anymore, but its investigative spirit is alive and well in the Echo and in journalists who will continue to fight for your interests and to uncover the important truths that officialdom would be happier to keep under wraps."

Good to see, among the ruins of a newspaper, his journalistic spirit remains undaunted.

Source: Liverpool Daily Post Hat tip: HoldTheFrontPage