Caledonian Mercury rises

A Burn's night special as Scotland sees the birth of what is described as Scotland's first truly online newspaper,the Caledonian Mercury

As reported last week the paper is the brainchild of former Scotsman,com editor Stewart Kirkpatrick.

The idea is to launch a website providing free Scottish-focused news with a paid-for print edition to follow, initially produced quarterly.

It's an interesting concept,local Scottish news with a platform of low overheads.

And to provide controversy it asks the question,Was Robert Burns a sex addict,speculating that if alive today

Would he join in one of the many suppers in his name – perhaps taking on the role of toaster to the lassies? Would he eschew the pomp and formality for something a bit more intimate with one particular lassie (or more)? Or would he have checked in to a rehab facility to be treated for sex addiction in a bid to save his marriage? Was Burns an 18th century Tiger Woods?

New innovative paper for Scotland

Former Scotsman editor,Stewart Kirkpatrick has announced that he is launching a new newspaper.

Writing on his blog he says

there is a substantial gap in the market. There is room - in fact, a desperate need - for an online, heavyweight publication committed to quality journalism. Scotland needs an intelligent title that uses the internet, not fights against it.

He promises some innovative things

1.our paper element will not be printed on a daily or even weekly basis. We will use print because it is a fantastic medium but we will use it innovative, unexpected ways.

2.we will focus on specialist areas of expertise. This publication will not try to be all things to all readers. It will not cover every cough and sniffle of the news landscape. It will zero in on what we think is important and leave the rest to other publications

3.we will focus on high-quality, in-depth journalism written by established experts.

Thx for the Ht-Roy Greenslade

Stewart Kirkpatrick on why Scotland needs its local press

I missed the comments yesterday of ,Stewart Kirkpatrick former editor of the scotsman.com website in the Independent.

Wherever you take your starting point, it is impossible to identify a society in which the scrutiny of a free and diverse newspaper press has not been vital to the development and success of representative democracy. They are so inextricably linked it is alarming to contemplate the possibility of one trying to function without the other.

Scotland he claims is unique in the UK having a relatively new devolved administration

Devolved Scotland is a new and fragile polity in which debate takes place within a narrow consensus. Its electoral system privileges party over electorate and the ruling elite is self-selecting and jealous of its privileges. The country's broadcasters are ill equipped to fill the vacuum left by its failing newspapers. Broadcasters can never do the job of a free press. At their best they provide balanced, informative news. It is to newspapers that citizens must turn for investigation, exposure and crusading zeal.

Scot.com-the new politics

Alex Salmond's Scottish nationalists are showing how the new media branding can assist in getting the message across.

Writing in the Observer today Paul Kelbie says that

In an attempt to unite the Scottish diaspora with a single virtual identity, the nationalists are championing a bid to establish .scot as the new badge of honour for proud Scots and their descendants all over the world.

adding that

Research carried out by the Office of the Chief Researcher found that 58 per cent of Scottish organisations and institutions would welcome a Scottish 'generic Top Level Domain', with 48 per cent in favour of .scot - a survey of international social and interest groups reported 82 per cent in favour

Beeb accused of bias in Scotland

The BBC is under attack again this time in Scotland over its political coverage.

The Scotsman reports that

SCOTTISH Labour chiefs have openly accused BBC journalists of pro-SNP bias in a bitter attack on the corporation's political coverage north of the border.
Labour specifically complains about BBC reporters using the phrase "London Government", claiming it is calculated to inflame anti-UK opinion

The parties Scottish General Secretary, Colin Smyth,wrote to the BBC claiming

"Particularly in relation to journalists and senior editorial staff in BBC Scotland, there are legitimate concerns about the use of certain terminology in describing the political process........
"For example, references to the 'London government' are clearly designed to elicit a certain reaction and should be avoided by journalists."
Such editorial decisions place the broadcasters in the uncomfortable position of appearing to be a partial contributor to, rather than a neutral observer and interpreter of, political events.

The BBC has dismissed the claims and the SNP have described them as a "paranoid rant"

The media has polarised the views of England and Scotland

Newspapers and broadcasters have polarised views between Scotland and England in the digital era, which has led ignorance and hostility, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research North.

The author of the report,Douglas Fraser, is also the political editor of the Scottish Herald.

This says the Institute can be illustrated in a number of ways

1.London based papers producing ‘Scottish editions’ subsequently strip Scottish news from English editions

2.The Scottish media has focused more of its attention on what is happening in the Scottish Parliament, and neither it nor the London-based media pay adequate attention to the English regions, Wales or Brussels.

3.A tendency of some London-based papers to treat Scotland as a foreign country and only cover “heroin or haggis” stories limits the understanding of Scotland south of the border

In addition the reporting of issues such as public spending disparities between the two nations has led to a further fueling of resentment

Beeb's foray in Scotland

Alan Cochran is none too pleased about the BBC's foray into Scotland by way of the Politics show.


Writing in the Telegraph,he says that

It would be a gross exaggeration and wholly unfair to say that the BBC is a bigger threat to the maintenance of the United Kingdom in its present form than the Scottish National Party. However, the network part of yesterday's Politics Show had a pretty good stab at disproving those statements.

Adding that

In one of its rare forays north of the border, presumably to try and justify the "British" bit of its official title, the Beeb came up with two filmed reports which could only have served to mislead.

The report concerns the "myth" that the Scots are subsidized by the English tax payer

The report, designed we must assume primarily for English consumption, ignored totally the fact - explained at length in this and other newspapers some time ago - that if per capita spending in the English regions is examined, then Scotland comes out just ahead of both the North East and North West of England and actually below the total for London.