The community-based, and now employee-owned, West Highland Free Press was founded in 1972 with the principal objective of providing its immediate circulation area with all of the services expected from a local newspaper.

Starting from humble beginnings on the Isle of Skye, the newspaper quickly gained a reputation for informed and outspoken news coverage. Building on that reputation, the Free Press firmly established itself as the newspaper of choice for many thousands of households across the West Highlands and Islands and further afield.

The paper’s priorities are perhaps best encapsulated in the Gaelic slogan on its masthead: “An Tir, an Canan ’sna Daoine — The Land, the Language, the People”. This is a slogan borrowed from the Highland Land League which, in the late 19th century, fought a crucial battle to win security of tenure for crofters. Reflecting this struggle for justice, the land and its people remain at the heart of the Free Press’s values.

Although much has been achieved since 1972, private landlordism and unbalanced patterns of land-ownership still persist. So too does the fundamental need of those who live and work on the land to have a say in their own futures, and this is reflected in many of the most celebrated stories which the paper has covered and continues to write about. Quality campaigning journalism is as relevant now as it was 38 years ago — or even 200 years ago.

Indeed, the Free Press continues to be one of the few local newspapers actively and vocally promoting community ownership of the land and its assets. We also champion the cause of the Gaelic language, both by giving it political support and by publishing more written Gaelic material than any other newspaper.

Over the decades, enormous progress has been made in improving the status of the language, in particular the advent of Gaelic-medium education. In the early 1970s the concept of any Gaelic at all appearing on road-signs was anathema to local authorities which were, at the time, dominated by landowners. Now bilingual or even Gaelic-only signs are taken for granted. So, too, the formation of a dedicated Gaelic television channel — at one time unthinkable, but now an established and widely-accessible platform for the language.

The Free Press has reported and campaigned on stories of major importance to the local communities we serve. Sometimes these campaigns have been successful. On other issues, like the construction of a high-toll, private-enterprise-funded bridge to Skye, the view of the paper — and of the local community — has been overruled from afar. And the creation of renewable energy projects throughout the Highlands and Islands, something which the Free Press has advocated for many years, is bringing real, tangible benefits to communities now and for generations to come.Our team of columnists at the Free Press compare with any in the land, and they consistently produce news stories and features of much more than local interest.

Our team of journalists continue to set the news agenda for many politicians and daily news-desks throughout the UK; our list of awards for the quality of our reporting, features and photography make us one of the most highly-regarded local newspapers in the country.

We continue to be as innovative and creative now as we were in 1972 and, as we approached our fifth decade, the Free Press became the first newspaper in the UK to become wholly owned by its employees — another milestone in our history. It's a move which guarantees the Free Press will continue to be based and owned locally rather than falling into the clutches of the bigger news groups, who invariably are based hundreds of miles away and detached from the communities they are meant to serve.

The West Highland Free Press is available extensively within the West Highlands and Islands and in towns and cities throughout Scotland, each Friday. We are also available online and by postal subscription.