It’s hard to get public sympathy for journalism given recent misdemeanours such as phone hacking in London.

Not everyone likes what certain newspapers stand for but that is the very affordable price we pay for freedom of expression in a democratic country.

So I ask you to indulge me for a minute when I warn that the government might be about to enact section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.

This says that any newspaper not covered by statutory regulation under a Royal Charter would be subject to punitive damages in libel and privacy court cases EVEN if they win the case.

So if The Argus is sued for libel, let’s say by a politician with his fingers in the till, we would have to pay his exorbitant costs to bring the case to court even if the judge decided we were absolutely right in what we reported.

This is because the Act, framed after the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking, intended to force newspapers into statutory regulation under the eventual control of politicians thus ending 300 years of a free press.

Not one single local and national newspaper nor any magazines were prepared for this control and most instead signed up to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, a tough self regulatory body.

The government seems to believe that we are sanguine about this move. We are not. It is no exaggeration to say that being hit with punitive costs could send this newspaper, and hundreds of others, out of business.

Either that or we will simply stop asking tough questions that are in the public interest.

Either way the democratic deficit, not having our journalists asking important questions on your behalf, in a county like ours would be very large indeed. It might not be the most fashionable of causes but perhaps if you bump into your local MP this week you might have a word in his or her ear.

Mike Gilson is Editor of The Argus