A proud history, an uncertain future

Scotsman_3 Over the weekend I was writing a piece for The List, Scotland’s listings magazine, on what technology might do to the media and arts in 2006.

All good fun, except when discussing Scotland’s national press. It’s a nation that loves its newspapers, yet hardly has the press it deserves. Cutbacks and closures abound. Ownership has moved overseas. The Herald, I wrote, appears to be in denial about the web. The Scotsman at least has a world-class web operation, but is rumoured to be getting sold off as sales fall. Both, I said, are caught between being too big to go ultra local, and too wee to really cover the world.

By chance, today the Scotsman titles were sold… to the Johnston Press. Aside from the issue of a vexatious rewrite, it remains to be seen if this is good or bad news. At least they’re Edinburgh-based, although they’re a profit hungry listed company, so it’s doubtful what that counts for. By way of showing track record the new owners point to editorial costs at the Yorkshire Post having "gone up" every year since 2002 in this piece, but that’s hardly stellar, or long-term. My overdraft’s gone up since then too, but I’m hardly investing in my bank.

I hope they invest and build the papers back up, not just because I spent happy years in the old North Bridge HQ, and not just because I’ve friends still there, but because Scotland needs a healthy national press, and doesn’t have one today. The Scotsman is one of the two, maybe three (Herald, Record?) papers that could deliver a truly national title… with some TLC. The titles already have excellent journalists - it’s just they could use some more, and some resource to send them to interesting places, and pay for them to do interesting things.

But m’colleague Matt Wells, another ex North Bridger, doesn’t hold much hope. He writes "those champagne-quaffing Scotsman staff should not be celebrating for too long: the purchase of the group by cost-conscious Johnston Press merely confirms its slow slide back into regional newspaper obscurity."

That would be a terrible shame for a wonderful title, but he may be right.

To finish, here’s a wonderful snippet from the Wikipedia entry on the paper…

"The Scotsman’s first editor, Charles Maclaren, was the only editor of the paper to fight a duel. Stung by journalistic attacks from Dr James Browne, the Caledonian Mercury’s editor, Maclaren, with grave reservations concerning Browne’s existence, agreed to meet him at Ravelston. The two exchanged shots, missed, refused to shake hands, and parted without apology."

BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
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» Big media, wikis, and lots of wikiwaffle

BROWSE / IN Press & publishing Scotland
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» Cruel and unusual punishment

COMMENTS / 7 COMMENTS

The Yorkshire Post, it may be worth pointing out, has long had a shockingly bad website unworthy of the newspaper. I’ve not heard anything from friends working there to suggest that it’s going to change any time soon.

Andrew L thought this on Dec 19 05 at 5:07 pm

I’m finding the grammatical unpleasantness of The Sunday Herald more irritating by the week. Am I alone in caring about misrelated participles?

Chris thought this on Dec 19 05 at 6:16 pm

When I was a wee boy I used to hate Sundays, my parents were quite mean to me, they sent me out early to collect their order of seven Sunday newspapers, (what a a bulk and weight to carry!) and then when I returned they promptly sent me off to church… while they spent the whole morning in bed reading all that newsprint.

Now 50 years later, frankly I don’t know one friend who buys any kind of regular newspaper… not one!

We haven’t got a decent national newspaper or a decent national tv station, or a decent national politician… but this has nothing to do with quality. We haven’t got any national confidence, or any national vision, and let fannies like Jack MacConnell, Andrew Neil and Kirsty Walk, dictate what we should be thinking, reading and watching.

None of it is sustainable for much longer, as these new media technologies will allow a cultural revolution to emerge from the bottom up. New voices, stronger voices, more articulate voices will be heard. It might take another decade to jettison the dross we have to put up with, dross that we call our leading thinkers, movers and shakers, but it will come, eventually.

There is just so much shite the Scots will take before its dumped forever…

Did any of you ever see Jackie Bird report live from Dunblane on the horrid day? I had to turn the telly off that evening…

Tom thought this on Dec 20 05 at 1:32 am

You can’t really be serious describing The Scotsman as having a world class website can you? That must be misty eyed romanticism, probably brought on by the smell of a bacon roll somewhere within Guardian Towers… oh how the Evening News newsroom used to smell of bacon butties.

The Scotland on Sunday site is full of dead links, or links criminally out of date and the whole thing just looks rather wrong - what is it with the old fashioned type face the print edition of the Hootsman abandoned many years ago?

Unfortunately I would say it’s all enough to leave the reader - who has persevered long enough not to get scunnered with the registration process or payment (what are they thinking?) - with the same indigestion the old Fleshmarket Close bacon butties inflicted on the hungry.

However, there is one thing about the Scotsman site that is worthwhile - the key quote and bullet point summaries on some stories. That’s a good idea that they deserve praise for.

Muz thought this on Dec 20 05 at 5:12 am

Muz - I can promise you I’ve little nostalgia for the hideous catering arrangements of North Bridge, for which I will probably pay a heavy price later in life. To repost, I think the Scotsman’s effort, including some very good (and quite groundbreaking) online journalism over the years, and their excellent Digital Archive, are all enough to make a site worth watching. They punch well above their weight, imho.

Neil McIntosh thought this on Dec 20 05 at 10:46 am

Muz, and Neil - you should’ve tried the bacon butties on offer at Barclay Towers! Almost made getting in the office for 5.30am worthwhile … and I think the Embra Evening News site is pretty good, especially for keeping in touch with the rantings of the McQues from Goldenacre

Gareth Mackie thought this on Dec 20 05 at 4:48 pm

Hmmm… I’ve just had another look at the site and decided the problem is with the http://www.scotsman.com front page. It’s not very inspiring for the launch pad of a modern organisation (uh-huh) representing a modern country (bloody hell, I’m starting to sound like Jack McConnell (who, btw, has just scored an excellent entry in Holy Moly’s CC, which I commend to you)).

Perhaps your point about them punching above their weight is fair. And they seem to have sorted out the deadlinks in the SoS site. However, they still haven’t found a spot for me in the 50 most eligible Scotsmen. How can that be?? Grr. Maybe it’s because Australia is too far away? But perhaps now we’re getting to the nub of the issue…