Your Noon Briefing: Online figures rise for Herald publisher, indie radio producers, a double dose of marketing, etc

THE Herald newspaper is celebrating growing online reader numbers for its UK-wide publishers.

Reports the paper today: “Media group Newsquest has seen the number of daily readers accessing its digital products grow by more than 40 per cent.

“The most recent industry data showed the average number of daily unique browsers across Newsquest’s regional news portfolio in the UK totalled 731,495 between July and December last year, compared to 520,256 in the same period of 2012.”

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INDEPENDENT radio producers have reportedly welcomed a recommendation that the BBC should grow targets for indie radio commissioning.

Reports radiotoday.co.uk, the recommendation is from the Institute of Public Policy Research, was presented at the Oxford Media Convention and concludes that “the UK’s existing public service broadcasters, including the BBC, should provide further ‘venture capital for creativity’ in the wider content-production sector through their investment and commissioning policies”.

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THE leading Scots PR agency, The BIG Partnership, is seeking a senior account executive/account manager, as advertised here on allmediascotland.com.

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WHO’S the best journalist on Twitter? That’s one of the questions being asked by a media awards competition launched by the trade journal, Press Gazette.

It says: “Today, Press Gazette launches a new set of awards to highlight the journalists who are doing the most to harness the power of social media.

“There are just four categories, with the awards spread out over the course of the next year: Reporter of the Year on Twitter and Social Media (vote now!); Most Influential Journalist on Social Media (voting not open yet); Best News Organisation for Breaking News on Social Media (voting not open yet); and Best Journalist/News Organisation to follow on Social Media (voting not open yet).”

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THE media can help reduce the number of suicides, writes Lyndsay Buckland, in today’s Scotsman newspaper.

Writes Buckland: “This week, the Samaritans held a meeting with journalists to explain the role the media plays in trying to reduce suicides, or at least not make the situation worse.

“The problem lies in the fact that, it appears, some vulnerable people may be encouraged to take the devastating decision to attempt suicide after reading or hearing about other suicides in the media.”

She adds: “…the updated media guidelines published by the Samaritans give tips on what we can do to responsibly report suicides. Some are common sense, such as don’t include too many details about how someone killed themselves or signpost readers to websites which might promote suicide. Language such as ‘commit suicide’ should also be avoided – suicide is not illegal.”

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THE thinking behind a new marketing campaign for Edinburgh is explained - here – by John Donnelly, chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh – in The Scotsman, today.

The campaign is called, ‘This is Edinburgh’.

And begins Chris Pitt – in a separate piece in The Scotsman: “It’s time for those who work in marketing to inspire bolder leadership. For too long marketing has operated on the fringes of the boardroom – and reckoned not to be central to the organisation and its future direction.”

Pitt is chair of the Marketing Society Scotland. Read him, here, on allmediascotland.com.

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