Visitors to Harbour Nights last night heard about the value of journalism, as a team from The Royal Gazette highlighted the newspaper’s Keeping You Connected campaign.

Staff took a spot among vendors at the popular Front Street attraction to help members of the public understand the newspaper’s role in the community.

It is hoped that through the campaign, the Gazette can attract print and digital subscribers who support its independent journalism and comprehensive coverage.

Dexter Smith, the newspaper’s Editor, said: “Putting a human face to what we do is integral to our goal of staying connected with our community.

“Journalism matters. Good, reliable, honest and caring journalism matters even more.”

Harbour Nights was packed with residents and tourists who stopped by the Gazette tent to be welcomed by employees and offered free publications as well as giveaways for new subscribers.

James MacDougall, a Bostonian who was previously married to a Bermudian and visits the island 180 days a year, said: “I read the Gazette every day without fail. I like local news wherever I go.

“For what is like a town of 60,000, it’s a first-rate newspaper and I would say it’s the newspaper of record for the island.”

One young family who moved to Bermuda from Florida in January said the paper helped them to learn about their new island home.

Kaleigh Dimillo, the mother, said “where to go” and information about road incidents were among the content she discovered in the Gazette.

She added: “Whenever I go back home to Florida, I bring the paper to my dad so he can see the difference between here and there.

“I’m a teacher and I see typos in the news in Jacksonville. The Royal Gazette is very good in terms of the base quality, but also in the sheer amount of articles it produces.

“We are 100 per cent informed.”

Vivian Sailsman, the Gazette’s Circulation Manager, was at the tent and helped to promote the Keeping You Connected campaign.

He said: “There are front-page articles you read in The Royal Gazette that other websites don’t do anything about.

“If there is an accident or shooting, sure, they will be there and so will we, but it’s not going to give you the intricate details of things that are happening behind the scenes that our guys go and investigate.”