IT was the final day at work on Friday for the National Union of Journalists’ ‘Father of Chapel’ at The Herald group of newspapers.
Gordon Thomson was one of several people to leave the papers on Friday, taking advantage of voluntary redundancy packages on offer, as the publisher transfers some of its editorial production function to South Wales – as noted, here, on allmediascotland.com.
Thomson has been a general reporter at the Evening Times newspaper for 25 years. Aged 63, he plans to spend the next few months getting fit, plus attend a son’s wedding, at the end of next month, in Thailand.
The deputy FoC at the newspapers is Sean Guthrie, a chief production journalist.
Among those joining Thomson – albeit he left earlier last month – was Christian Cooksey, the picture editor at the Evening Times.
After 20 years mainly at the Evening Times, he has left to set up cookseypix.com.
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AND staying with The Herald, congratulations to Daniel Sanderson on his appointment as the paper’s new Scottish political correspondent, taking over from Robbie Dinwoodie, who has moved to a new role as a leader and opinion writer.
Sanderson, who joined the group earlier this year – from the Edinburgh Evening News, as a general reporter – takes up his post today.
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A STUDENT at Glasgow Clyde College has been named among the winners in a competition for student journalists and, in the main, relatively new practising journalists.
Catrina Cochrane has been awarded the Multimedia Story/Campaign of the Year prize at the Awards for Excellence, run by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Says the NCTJ, the prize was “for her apolitical project, Dearest Scotland, [where she] aimed to give everyone the opportunity to share their vision on the future of Scotland in a crucial year for the country”.
The awards are presented annually to students studying for a NCTJ Diploma in Journalism (job entry-level qualification) or trainees on the NCTJ National Qualification in Journalism course (journalists seeking to become senior reporters).
Read more, here. And here, a media release posted on allmediascotland.com.
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BEGINS the community radio station serving the Western Isles, today on its Facebook page: “Isles FM starts the week with a glow of gratitude to loyal listeners, who pulled out all the stops last week to support their station. At 5pm on Friday it was revealed that the £6,000 needed to secure a new 12-year broadcasting licence had been deposited with [broadcasting regulators] Ofcom, and receipted, meaning that a further 12 years of broadcasting has now been legally licenced.”
Read more, here.
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THE draft opening chapter of a possible book about the BBC and the referendum on Scots independence has been posted online, in the hope of raising funds from the general public, to turn the book idea into a reality.
GA Ponsonby is a contributor to, and senior member of, the website, newsnetscotland, and the title of his prospective book – ‘How the BBC Stole the Referendum’ – makes clear his opinion on how the BBC conducted itself during the build-up to the September 18 vote.
Read more, here.
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TRIBUTES continue to pour in for the late football broadcaster and commentator, Arthur Montfor – who died last week, aged 85 – including Aidan Smith in yesterday’s Scotland on Sunday (here) and Billy Dodds, in the Sunday Herald (here).
Writes Dodds, at the bottom of his weekly column: “I used to love listening to him when I was growing up and I regard him, Archie MacPherson, David Francey and David Begg as the top four commentators of all time.”
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BEGAN Peter Preston, in yesterday’s Observer: “There are many good things to say about the National, Scotland’s new pro-independence daily. One is that Richard Walker, the redoubtable Sunday Herald editor who – alone – backed a yes vote in the referendum, has been put in charge of a project that helps reflect Scottish public opinion better. Another is that Newsquest, aka Gannett of Virginia, has taken the plunge with him, derring-do quite beyond corporate expectation. Another is that the newcomer arrives first as a 50p print copy, not some digital-only venture.”
Read more, here.
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THE columnist and broadcaster, Lesley Riddoch, discusses the new, pro-Scots independence newspaper, The National, in her latest podcast, here. Among other things, she marvels at how quickly the paper was taken to market and how it has become – with minimal publicity – widely known about.
A good listen.
Said The National’s sister title, the Sunday Herald, yesterday, she has ‘dismissed speculation’ she is to stand ‘under an SNP banner’ at the General Election next year.
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SEVERAL mentions over the weekend that a greater say in the governance of the BBC featured in earlier versions of the Smith Commission on possible additional powers for Scotland, but now no longer… for instance, by Tom Gordon, in yesterday’s Sunday Herald (here).
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