TWO incidents we report tonight might seem unconnected - that of a disabled pensioner faced with having her window boarded up for six weeks after a burglary, and the editor of a community newsletter claiming the town hall censored it.

But what links them is they are both critics of the council.

In desperation, despite being on a low income, the old lady got a private firm to install a new window at her council bungalow - and then found she would not be reimbursed by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

And Neil Jackson complains that the same local authority doctored the newsletter he drafted for 1,300 homes at Shadsworth.

As its printers, they removed a whole page he had written because, he claims, it criticised the council for renaming the area's neighbourhood centre without consultation and for no longer giving residents a real say over the provision of amenities.

Yet to whom did both turn when they could not get satisfaction from the town hall?

It was to your Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Now, upset pensioner Mrs Christina Dickinson is getting her money back.

And Mr Jackson has found a friend in his determination to keep his Free Press robustly independent of the town hall.

But that is our job - sticking up for people's rights.

And if Mr Jackson has experienced obstruction in his efforts to do the same, we know how he feels.

For, daily, the press battles against the negative attitude and obstacles of officialdom, private enterprise and individuals who would prefer not to have outside judgment of their actions or the services they provide to be upheld by freedom of expression or fair comment.

It is often a taken-for-granted aspect of our liberty, but one which, surely, would be sorely missed - especially by the "little people" of the community when they feel their rights are threatened by powers that will not listen.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.