As we head into a new decade, many readers will surely be wondering what it will mean for local newspapers.

Despite many changes to the ways we work, the Oxford Mail and associated titles (all delivered to you by one team) still pride themselves on a great news service.

After a General Election which saw political parties print fake newspapers and false information spread on social media, we would hope that now, more than ever, people begin to appreciate the importance of a local news service which does what the Mail still does for Oxfordshire.

We are still here to scrutinise, to ask questions on behalf of our readers and help the police with public safety.

What that last bit means is, as well as holding the police force to account, we publish appeals for information on its behalf. Sometimes these are appeals for witnesses, sometimes they are appeals for a wanted person.

The police send us this information and often a photograph of the wanted person so that the public will know who they are looking for.

If you’re a regular reader of the Mail, or any local newspaper, you’ll see such appeals on a daily basis. The police need the public’s help in keeping the public safe - and the paper acts as a vehicle for that.

We have had several complaints regarding our 12 Days of Christmas crime appeals.

Some of those complainants have accused us of picking and choosing who is featured. That is simply not the case. 

We would like to make it very clear that the people featuring have been listed as ‘most wanted’ by crime agencies, not the Oxford Mail. Crime agencies, using their professional judgement, need to apprehend these people based a) their alleged crimes b) risk to the general public.

It is not up to the Oxford Mail to decide who is wanted by the police.

The Oxford Mail is acting in the public interest in publishing the details. These appeals simply contain a description of the alleged criminal and details of their alleged crime (as provided by the police).

It is literally the job of the police to keep you safe. One of the most successful ways they get information is through public appeals.

If one of the wanted people commits another crime, residents, rightly, would be asking the police 'why didn't you do more to apprehend them?'

And if we didn't report on these appeals, residents (again, rightly) would be asking 'why didn't you report this information?'

We've published a couple of explanatory articles this year about why and what we can report.

You can find a court explainer here

And an inquest explainer here

Journalists at the Mail have undertaken a specialist qualification, which means they understand reporting laws and ethics.

We do our very best to uphold those standards.

The information we provide is verified and we are regulated by Ipso.

We are accountable, unlike a post you might see from an unverified twitter user with an odd handle name and no profile photograph.

You know who our editor is, you know where our office is. You can email us. You can email our editor direct. You can call us on the numbers provided in the paper and online. You can (and do, often) reach out on social media and tell us what you think of us.

None of our websites have a paywall, which means that many of you reading this are accessing this content for free.

This is not a plea for you to buy a copy of the paper and help support the journalism we bring to you 24/7, 365 days a year.

It is simply an explanation as to why the work we do is important and why we report what we report.

A 2016 study by King's College London, found that towns which had lost their local newspaper had suffered a 'democracy deficit' - this resulted in lack of community engagement and created distrust in public institutions.

Newspapers continue to act as a vehicle for important information, in the public interest. That's what police appeals are.