The Scotsman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact |
| Owner | Johnston Press |
| Founded | 1817 |
| Headquarters | 108 Holyrood Rd, Edinburgh |
| | |
| Website: www.scotsman.com | |
The Scotsman is a Scottish national newspaper, published in Edinburgh. Since August 16, 2004, it has been printed in compact format. Its sister Sunday publication, which remains broadsheet, is titled Scotland on Sunday. The Scotsman Publications Ltd also produces the Edinburgh Evening News and the Herald & Post series of free newspapers in Edinburgh, Fife, West Lothian and Perth.
The Scotsman was launched [2] in 1817 as a liberal weekly by lawyer William Ritchie and customs official Charles Maclaren in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". After the abolition of newspaper stamp tax in Scotland in 1850, The Scotsman was relaunched as a daily newspaper priced at 1d and a circulation of 6000 copies.
In 1953 the newspaper was bought by Canadian millionaire Roy Thomson who was in the process of building an enormous media empire. The paper was in 1995 bought by billionaires Barclay Brothers for £85 million. They moved the newspaper from its landmark Edinburgh office on North Bridge, which is now an upmarket hotel, to new offices on Holyrood Road, near where the Scottish Parliament Building was subsequently built. While under their ownership, controversial British journalist Andrew Neil, a former editor of The Sunday Times, was publisher of the newspaper, in addition to The Business and The Spectator magazine.
The Scotsman was a staunch supporter of Scottish devolution but has since been critical of the Scottish Parliament. While not aligned to any political party, The Scotsman is proud of its Scottish roots and its reputation as a Scottish national newspaper. It has been a strong opponent of the decision to abolish the Scottish Regiments.
The Scotsman has a daily circulation of around 67,000 [3]. It has fallen fairly dramatically over the past few years, in common with other titles. The current editor Mike Gilson started in the autumn of 2006, joining The Scotsman from The News, Portsmouth.
In December 2005 it was announced that the paper, along with the other Scotsman Publications titles, was sold to Edinburgh based newspaper group Johnston Press in a £160 million deal ending Neil's ten-year relationship with the newspaper. [4]
This takeover has resulted in a number of redundancies and an increase in cost control and business efficiency, allowing the Scotsman to become more profitable. [5] [6]
The Scotsman is sometimes jokingly referred to as "The Hootsmon", particularly by journalists on its rival papers The Herald and the Sunday Herald.
