Eric Pickles has praised the Brentwood Gazette just days after it was nominated for a top industry award.
In a speech to the Society of Editors in Birmingham today, the Brentwood and Ongar MP said he could think of "no better barometer of local opinion" than your local newspaper.
It comes in the same week the Gazette was shortlisted in the Society of Editors' Regional Press Awards weekly newspaper of the year category (under 20,000), and one month after it was crowned best paid for weekly newspaper in the EDF East of England Media Awards 2012.
Mr Pickles, the communities secretary, spoke of the importance of the local press amid the Leveson Report and the ongoing threat of council publications.
"I'm a big advocate of a vibrant local press," he said. "As a politician I find there is no better barometer of local opinion than the Brentwood Gazette. Except, perhaps, TOWIE.
"But local news organisations offer more than just a temperature check."
He described the papers such as the Gazette as "an essential cog in the democratic wheel".
But he added: "You've also had to face another problem. The sinister spread of the Town Hall Pravda.
"Like a knock-off Rolex, this expensive imitation, flattered to deceive.
"No wonder local newspapers are feeling out of pocket - literally and metaphorically.
"That's why we're putting the kibosh on unfair competition, we're opening more doors for you and all I ask in return is that you continue to do what you best.
"Because strong local newspapers are the very bulwark on which our daily life depends, and when you flourish, democracy succeeds."
