29/08/2008

The Herald understandably took great delight, the other day, in reporting the publication of Sir Sean Connery’s autobiography, Being a Scot, in collaboration with filmmaker, Murray Grigor - after all, the paper’s Diary was mentioned in highly glowing terms.

Writes Sir Sean, and reproduced by the newspaper: “First thing each morning, I turn to The Herald on my computer - first for its witty Diary, which helps keep my Scots sense of humour in tune.”

Curious, however, that the paper chose to omit the actor’s subsequent comments: a withering attack on its publishers, Newsquest.

There’s a mention of an online petition - posted by the National Union of Journalists - calling the Competition Commission to hold Newsquest to pledges made when it bought The Herald, regarding quality and coverage of Scottish issues and opinions.

Sir Sean asserts that Newsquest’s parent company, Gannett, seems to run the paper as a “cash cow”.

He concludes: “My deepest regret is that my friend Tony O’Reilly’s Independent News & Media Group’s bid for The Herald lost out to Newsquest.”

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