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March 09, 2005

Scottish Standard

A new pro-independence weekly Scottish newspaper called the Scottish Standard was published today. The print run is 50,000. I haven’t seen it yet but I gather it is in a compact/tabloid format, aimed at the middle of the market, and broadly supportive of the SNP, SSP and the Greens.

I suppose it is a good thing to have a publication with full Scottish credentials, but I can’t get enthusiastic about another old-fashioned, dead-tree, advertizing-based rag.

What we need is a Scottish-based news agency, a ‘Scottish Reuters’, following, researching, originating solid, detailed, news material about Scotland for English-language publications everywhere.

Stuart Dickson’s Independence Blog and DoctorVee have more comments on the newspaper.

www.scottishstandard.com/new.asp

news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=261672005

scottish-independence.blogspot.com/2005/03/launch-of-new-scottish-newspaper.html

www.doctorvee.co.uk/2005/03/08/unconvinced-by-the-scottish-standard/

Posted by Simon Holledge at March 9, 2005 02:40 PM

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Comments

I still think that newspapers are a wonderful medium, and advertising is what makes it a great medium.

Advertising when combined with the ability to charge a cover-price gives print media a huge advantage over radio and TV: independence from state-control.

Give me a newspaper with a clear, honest opinion before the "neutral", "unbiased" BBC anyday.

Posted by: Stuart Dickson at March 10, 2005 09:04 PM

If it is a choice between newspapers and broadcasting, then I'd agree that newspapers usually offer more - but both are inadequate compared to the internet.

Television is particularly unsatisfactory because it offers generalized impressions rather than information or analysis. Newspapers on the other hand are dirty, out-of-date, difficult to distribute and owned by very few people.

I don't normally buy newspapers and I would certainly never invest in one. I don't see them surviving for more than 10 or 15 more years.

Chacun à son gout!

Posted by: Simon Holledge at March 10, 2005 09:31 PM

Mais oui!

Posted by: Stuart Dickson at March 11, 2005 07:15 AM