THE Press Association’s Scottish editor is leaving next week, after six years in the post.
Iain Duff will bow out a week tomorrow. One of his last major jobs will be tonight, spearheading the UK national news agency’s overnight General Election coverage in Scotland.
It is understood he agreed a voluntary redundancy package and is now planning to embark on a freelance career. He is currently completing work on a book about the Old Firm, his third football title.
He said: “Whatever the outcome of the election it is sure to be a historic night, so hopefully I will be going out of PA on a high.
“At the moment I have no firm plans on what to do next but after a decade and a half of starting work at the crack of dawn, I am definitely pursuing options that don’t involve getting up quite so early in the morning.
“As well as my writing, reporting and newsdesk experience I’m also looking forward to getting the chance to learn some new skills that I’ll be able to put to good use in the future.”
Duff joined PA six years ago, from Glasgow’s Evening Times, where he had been chief reporter before moving onto the newsdesk.
He led a 30-strong team of reporters, video journalists, photographers and production staff at PA, providing multi-media content for the Scottish and UK media.
Over the last 15 years, he has been heavily involved in major stories like Dunblane, Princess Diana’s death, the Lockerbie trial, 9/11 and the Glasgow airport terror attack, among many others.
He also won the UK Press Gazette’s Scoop of the Year award in 1997 and was nominated as Scotland’s best young journalist the same year.
PA last month announced that it had opened a voluntary redundancy scheme to all staff above a certain salary level in a bid to reduce costs.
Iain can be contacted at iainduff@tinyworld.co.uk or on 07854 979798.
