THIS year journalism will be more important than ever. In just a few weeks, Donald Trump will be sitting in the Oval Office. The chaos of Brexit will engulf, and possibly consume, the UK this year. The fight for Scottish independence continues. The destruction of Syria will go on and its people will continue to die in droves. A renewed and hostile Russia is in the ascendency. Climate change worsens. Wages stagnate. Workers' rights erode. Technology disrupts every area of our lives.

We are confronted with a confusing and, at times, terrifying world which is becoming harder to navigate. In such times, the erosion of trust is the most dangerous change of all. If we cannot trust politicians, police, public servants, and journalists – who are meant to fairly and honestly report on the world – then we are left not just isolated and confused but with no firm grip on what is truly happening. An understanding of reality is the most precious of human capabilities.

Yet we live in a post-truth world of fake news. A world where lies – whether spewed by Brexiteers, Trump, or the Kremlin – are given equal currency with truth; and truth is a hard thing to uncover. Journalists – good journalists – dedicate their working lives to giving you the most accurate account of events that they can. But in these times, journalism has been traduced. The reasons are many and varied.

Firstly, as with so much of current life, the internet has disrupted the concept of journalism. The proliferation of "citizen journalism" and blog sites have offered an alternative to the so-called mainstream or corporate media. In some cases, this is good. When websites offering alternatives to mainstream media are run by trained and experienced professionals then journalism is democratised and new voices come into play which help shape our debate. But many such websites are not professional, in fact, many are as bad, if not worse, than the mainstream media they pretend to loathe. Professionalism matters. Do you want an untrained plumber fixing your toilet? A driver with no licence behind the wheel of a lorry? And of course, web news is much harder to police than the traditional press.

However, traditional media has also badly let itself down. In the UK, the lies and fear-mongering of the Brexiteers was amplified by many London-based newspapers to the point of outright racism. In the US, Trump was treated as a joke who would boost ratings – much as the BBC treated Nigel Farage – and so broadcasters created a monster which they failed to hold to scrutiny until it was too late.

Scottish voters who supported independence are still wary of a media which – apart from the Sunday Herald – failed to reflect their views at the time of the referendum. How can the press claim to be plural if only one newspaper – the one you are reading – reflected the opinion of 45 per cent of the population? The narrow status quo unionist agenda was a fatal wound to Scotland's long and proud heritage of having one of the most vibrant free presses in the world.

Having an agenda is not a flaw. Every newspaper should hold a strong political position which is reflected in their comment pages and editorials such as this one. What that agenda should not do is creep into the way news is reported – for that way propaganda lies. The Sunday Herald holds its head high when it comes to honest reporting. From our inception, we have championed decent values, and often we were a lone voice. We fought tooth and nail against the Iraq War; we have campaigned tirelessly for the rights of women, minorities and the LGBTI community; we raged against Tory austerity; and of course, we continue to campaign for Scottish independence as we believe it is the only route to the progressive society we want to see built.

This February, the Sunday Herald will be 18 years old. Since day one, we have tried our best to be honest, accurate, fair and balanced. This is not a plea for some sort of "Sunday Herald exceptionalism" – there are other decent newspapers out there too across the world, fighting for the truth and decency, but they are becoming few and far between.

If you want journalism that you trust, that stands up for ordinary people against corporate interests, that fights for Scotland, that fights for a fairer world, for peace and justice for all people no matter what their colour, creed or gender, then you have to support it – and that means paying for it. This week we have had to raise our cover price by 10p due to rising industry costs. We hope you see that tiny increase as a small price worth paying for what we do. The disrupted industry of journalism needs people who value it to put their hands in their pockets - and we thank you for your continued support.

On a planet where the very concept of "value" is becoming devalued – who wants to pay for a book or a film or a song any more? – truth must retain its value ... because without truth we have nothing left but an empty vacuum into which the villains of this world will walk, and their occupation of the truth will be to the detriment of us all.