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When I trained as a magazine editor at the London College of Printing in the very eighties, one of the guest lecturers was a Guardian journalist who spoke of the trials involved getting your copy into the paper such was the level of over staffing. Fast forward nearly thirty years and management think nothing of working staff up to and beyond the point of nervous exhaustion producing thousands of words a day. Meanwhile in the land of the newly retired and inveterate newspaper reader I still haven't bought a paper this morning because I am fully up to speed from the web and if I want to get anything off my chest I just stick it on a blog. No 2 on Justin Webb's blog this morning on an issue that I feel particularly stongly about. No need to write to the editor, find a stamp and then not make the cut to get published. In thirty years I never got a letter in the letters page of any newspaper. In blog land unless I break the rules I get the satisfaction of seeing my views expressed in public view. I love newspapers but won't be buying one today. And that is the problem which the industry can't get away with. Mankind and its ways are continually evolving and just because we were born into a world with great institutions like The Scotsman and The Herald doesn't mean to say that we will die with them. If only we could say the same about the British monarchy. I want to be a citizen of my own country when I die and not a subject. The sooner Alex Salmond has the courage to realise most Scots feel this way then the sooner it will happen. And the editorial line of The Scotsman won't make a difference or be of any real relevance to the debate.

The Scottish quality press has suffered badly from inroads being made by English titles, notably The Times. The Times has produced a very competent Scottish edition with good local news content backed up by excellent foreign coverage that the Herald and Scotsman just can't compete with. The Times can also afford to employ big name features writers. The Herald, in particular, is now a very dull read - a shame when one looks back on its better years.

Actually I think the end of the Newspapers will in the long term, be a good thing.People getting their news from internet sites which with a little technological knowledge, can be operated by anyone, will see power drift away from a handful of millionaires who currently control the media to one where everyone can be an opinion former in a Marketplace of ideas.

Corporate control of the Media is stiffling democracy,control of the News media via the internet will ,I hope lead to a much more open Society and force the Politicians to adress the issues that we the voters want them to rather than conspiring with each other and the Rupert Murdochs of this World to shut us out of the decision -making process.

Douglas,

One of the points that you fail to address in your note (but perhaps you will yet?) is that a significant proportion of the Scottish newspaper buying public has not been well-served with a daily which shares their political views.

If you are of an independantiste persuasion, no daily paper follows this line while the so-called 'quality' papers in Scotland are pro-unionist. I gave up reading the Hootsmon years ago when it was taken so far downhill by yon would-be playboy editor from Paisley. The Herald, under its American owners, has just fallen from grace year after year.

The internet is, without doubt, the way forward for newspapers to inform and retain a readership. As another poster has noted, it is now where the 'daily read' starts and, while, I always begin with the Herald, even my loyalty will erode if the editorial stances of these papers remain unchanged.

(On a more important point, as a GMS regular, can we please have Issy back? She is really missed, but we hope she is well!)

I must agree with RMcGeddon. The Herald, in particular, is dull and deadly and cannot hope to compete with the big ideas and marketing budgets of the nationals. You could almost write the paper yourself each day consisting of:

- lethargic political coverage from Holyrood
- diary items from Glasgow news conferences
- slightly re-worked press releases
- PA copy given a new (localised) header
- some staged pictures from photocalls
- diary consisting of unfunny 'stories' overheard in west end pubs

However, the worst of it are the features and sports coverage. Everyone knows Rangers or Celtic will win the league every year so who really needs yards of coverage about something so routine and predictable?

I'd possibly buy a weekly, or bi-weekly summary of a good, lively, local read but gave up buying the daily some years ago and have no plans to return.

I buy a newspaper but once a week.

The rest of the time I collect my news from the internet, and the juvenile news presentations on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ1.

While the newspaper industry cannot hope to stay alive on my type of support, I would bemoan its passing.

Some of the commentaries and insights given by reports give that very useful "third dimension" to what's going on.

So yes - a once-a-week paper could well be up my street.

The future for the scottish daily quality papers is i fear bleak unless they merge.by that i mean the herald and scotsman.the herald i have all ways considered third rate and very glasgow centered . the scotsman was at one time a fine newspaper but recently has become very poor the solution i think is merger with a new international and british base. what newspaper do i read the telegraph including sunday.i do not agree with its views but in allan chochrane it has a fine writer the best debunker of alex salmond there is also gives an excellent coverage of events etc.

The truth is the Scottish press has been in long-term and often self-inflicted decline. As long as the local advertising markets delivered easy profits, nobody bothered to adapt to changing market needs until it was too late. The Herald sells half of what it did 20 years ago, when it was a vibrant, competitive title with an editor who believed in good journalism.
We can see today that the standard of journalism in Scotland has collapsed and continues to fall, ironically at a time when we have our own Parliament - something most Scottish newspapers predicted would solve so many problems. The same malaise is now biting deep into other media, including the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
The public aren't stupid. They know when media standards are falling. In Scotland, home of a proud but complacent media for so long, they are falling more quickly than ever.

I used to work at The Herald. Now the ship has sunk and I dont even bother buying a newspaper. I surf the web for news when I want to and have taken up playing the guitar, putting the time to better use and bringing an end to the re-reading of regurgitated crap being served up by the anorexic Scottish press.

"It is not just that that's where I worked until last September, though perhaps I am a bit biased."

Thinking back on the slant that Douglas gave to political stories, I would say there is no "maybe" about it.

Douglas,

A number of other posters have now developed the theme of the sad state of the Scottish dailies, but are you not now in a somewhat difficult position yourself??

Words like frying pan and fire come to mind!

I have complained on the Beeb website in the past, but let me just repeat that in general broadcasting and, particularly sports, the standards at the Beeb, too, have just retreated year after year.

Just who is the intellectually-challenged commissioning editor that allowed the Fred McAulay to ever be broadcast?? This programme is 'The Sun' on radio!!

And just what is the tie-up between the Beeb sports department and the Daily Rancid?? What kind of largesse passes from one to the other to permit such a total dominance of the Beeb sports programmes?

Douglas, you have a mighty job to do at the Beeb!

Best of good fortune to you!!

I wonder whether poor Douglas is spewing, having left the Herald just a little too soon to qualify for a redundo pay-off?