Yesterday, Google announced its plan to digitise previous issues of newspapers to make them accessible and searchable online. For the PR exec, and the marketeer, this can only be a good thing.

That vital piece of national coverage secured for a client will be picked up when a potential customer does a Google search for information about the company, furthering the number of eyes that will read it and broadening its reach beyond the already momentous number of daily national newspaper readers.

My only problem with this is the same one that I have with the e-book. Being an ex-Literature student, I can see the advantage of reading on a screen but there really is nothing like picking up a good classic or a broadsheet and getting lost for a few minutes or hours.

So, I’m torn - while I can appreciate what a positive step forward this is for my clients and for my working life, and I already recognise that more and more readers are going online for their daily news fix, I hope the good old tactile newspaper doesn’t lose its place or its importance.

Rebecca Wheeler