Staff at WIN's Orange, Wagga Wagga, Albury and Hervey Bay newsrooms were told on Wednesday that they would be out of work from June 28.

The decision to close the newsrooms is a commercial one, and one that again starkly illustrates the challenges facing all regional media.

It's not that long ago that the local newspaper, local radio and local TV were the only sources of local news, financially supported by local (and national) advertisers that happily paid for access to those audiences.

But the internet has changed all that.

Metropolitan media has suffered the most from the loss of revenue as myriad new advertising avenues have opened up, but regional media has also been impacted.

And if it's no longer commercially viable for WIN to continue producing local news in Orange, Wagga, Albury and Hervey Bay, then we should not be shocked by Wednesday's announcement - but we can be saddened.

The loss of any local media naturally means the loss of local stories.

They are the stories that are dear to us all, and the challenge for journalists in the Central Western Daily newsroom and other newsrooms across the region is to keeping telling those stories even as the media landscape around us keeps changing.

Even the way we tell our stories has changed as we present both hard-copy and online versions of the news stories we chase seven days a week.

The Central Western Daily will have a new owner from July 1 when the sale of Australian Community Media to a private consortium headed by Antony Catalano comes into effect.

Through all that change, though, one thing remains the same: the importance of local journalism.

And if people want local journalism to survive, then they must support it.

We make no secret of the fact that we need those people interested in Orange news to buy our newspapers and purchase our online subscriptions.

The Central Western Daily is committed to the future of Orange, but our readers must show that same commitment to us.

Please join us on this rollercoaster ride - if nothing else, we can promise it will be interesting.