Your Noon Briefing: Invite issued to discuss BBC, more on Walker and Carlin, etc

MEMBERS of the Scots broadcasting community are being invited to share their thoughts about the BBC, with the Scottish Government minister whose remit includes the media.

A meeting has been scheduled in Glasgow, for tomorrow, where Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, will be considering the upcoming BBC Charter renewal.

The consultation event invites members of the industry to: “Join the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs and our expert panel for a mornings discussion on what Scotland wants and what it can achieve from the BBC Charter renewal process.”

The panel is expected to include well-known broadcaster, Stuart Cosgrove, representatives of BBC Scotland and MG ALBA.

For more details, click here.

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FOLLOWING the announcement – noted here, in yesterday’s allmediascotland Noon Briefing – that both Richard Walker and Tony Carlin are to leave as editors of the Sunday Herald and the Evening Times newspapers, the trade website, pressgazette.co.uk, is reporting they both are taking voluntary redundancy.

In an extensive report, pressgazette.co.uk, notes: “The Sunday Herald, edited by Richard Walker, was the only weekly, paid-for regional newspaper to increase its circulation in the first half of 2015, up 15.5 per cent year on year to 29,009. It was the only major newspaper in Scotland to back the Yes vote in last September’s independence referendum.”

Read more, here.

The announcement said that Walker will remain with the Sunday Herald sister title, The National, as a consultant editor.

The Guardian also reports the story, here, with holdthefrontpage.co.uk’s take to be found, here.

The news also briefly featured in yesterday’s edition of BBC Scotland’s Reporting Scotland. View it, here, around the 13’44” mark.

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BEGINS The Scotsman: “Justice secretary, Michael Matheson, has told MSPs he has ‘no idea’ whether Police Scotland has monitored the activities of political activists and trade unionists.

“Mr Matheson was answering questions in the Scottish Parliament yesterday about the force’s alleged use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to spy on journalists.”

Read more, here.

And the author of the article, Chris Marshall, also pens an op ed, here, on the subject.

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SEEN anything you think readers of www.allmediascotland.com should be made aware of? Then just send the weblink to here and we’ll do the rest. All suggestions gratefully received. We’re back at noon tomorrow.