THE Oban Times has a new editor, following the sudden stepping down of Stewart MacKenzie, for family reasons.
Willie Mack – says the paper’s publishers, Wyvex Media – is “a seasoned campaigner with vast experience of local newspapers”.
Continues Wyvex: “Willie has edited titles both north and south of the Border in a career spanning almost four decades. He has occupied the editor’s chair for Archant in Glasgow, for Johnston Press in the Scottish Borders and for Forth Independent Newspapers in Alloa. He also held a group editorial position with Newsquest in East London.
“During his time at the Southern Reporter, the publication was voted best local newspaper in Scotland for three years in a row and he also picked up a clutch of awards at Alloa and Glasgow.”
Read more, here.
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A FREE gardening magazine is being launched, available with The Herald newspaper.
The Scottish Gardener is launching next Friday and its managing editor is Agnes Stevenson.
It’s the latest in a series of free magazines being produced by the publisher of The Herald, including Scottish Cycling and Scottish Walks.
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THE debut edition of a new Scots news and comment magazine is asking if we are living in a ‘new age of misogyny’.
The Stooshie is out today – priced £2.50 – and its ‘Stooshie of the Day’ picks up from a TV documentary aired last week by Scots broadcaster, Kirsty Wark: Blurred Lines: The New Battle of the Sexes.
The debut edition of the DC Thomson-published is being identified as ‘issue zero’.
Read more, here.
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BEGINS STV, in an announcement this morning: “STV Group plc announces the appointment of two new non-executive directors to the board of the company. The first of these appointments, Christian Woolfenden, will join the board from 1 June 2014 and Anne Marie Cannon will join the board on 1 November 2014.”
Read more, here.
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THE ‘dark arts’ of politicians briefing journalists? A fascinating insight is provided by John McTernan, in today’s Scotsman, here.
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THE TV catch-up service provided by broadcaster, STV, has won an award at a media competition.
The STV Player has been awarded the Best Long-Form Media Experience prize at the Brightcove EMEA Innovation Awards.
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BEGINS the website, holdthefrontpage: “A Scottish media group has added three weekly titles to its portfolio with the purchase of a family-owned publisher in what is thought to be a six-figure deal.
“Banffshire-based J&M Publishing has been sold to Scottish Provincial Press after 133 years in the Johnston family.
“The family – which is not connected to Johnston Press – founded the Banffshire Avdvertiser in 1881 and it has continued to be owned by them up to the present day, along with sister titles the Huntly Express and Banffshire Herald.”
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A MODERN Apprenticeship in digital journalism has been launched by Forth Valley College.
Says a media release posted by the college on allmediascotland, the course has been set up in conjunction with the National Union of Journalists.
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REPORT the outdoors and outdoor pursuits? Interested in them? Feel free to check out twitter.com/allOutdoorsPR.
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THE Herald newspaper is looking for a new group City editor as Tim Sharp is moving to become a policy officer in the economic and social affairs department at the TUC, focusing on pensions and investments issues.
Tim has been in the role at The Herald’s London office since October 2007. As well as working on business stories he wrote a column for the Inside Track section in the paper’s opinion pages.
Prior to joining The Herald, he worked at financial publisher, Citywire, where he was assistant editor (news). He started his career on regional papers in the North-east of Scotland and Northamptonshire before going on to work at Investment Week.
He was nominated in the best financial/business writer category at the Scottish Press Awards in 2011, 2012 and last year.
His successor is being sought, here.
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A WEEK-long programme of workshops, celebrity appearances, etc for radio hopefuls comes to an end in Glasgow today.
And Piers Bradford – from BBC Radio 1, organisers of the BBC Radio 1 Academy – reflects on it, in The Herald, here.
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CONGRATULATIONS to the Glasgow-based media and marketing magazine, The Drum. As it reports: “The Drum has been shortlisted for four awards, including website of the year, alongside some of the biggest names in publishing at the Association of Online Publishers’ Digital Publishing Awards 2014.”
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THE BBC is no longer going to suspend its membership of the Confederation of British Industry, which it had threatened to do when the latter became an official backer of the campaign against Scots independence.
Says the BBC website: “The BBC will not suspend its membership of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) during the Scottish independence referendum campaign.
“The BBC faced calls to resign membership when the CBI registered as an official backer for a ‘No’ vote.
“The application was later nullified by the Electoral Commission.
“The BBC had said it would suspend its membership during the campaign period, but announced that this was “no longer necessary” given the CBI’s new stance.”
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