Your Noon Briefing: Upcoming BBC show under fire, ‘digital storytelling’ training, etc

BEGINS Martyn McLaughlin, in The Scotsman, today: “BBC Scotland has been criticised for paying a Labour MSP to co-present a new programme which will debate key independence referendum issues.

“Senior staff at the Corporation have expressed disquiet over the appointment of Kezia Dugdale, Labour’s education spokeswoman, in a paid role as a presenter of Crossfire, a Radio Scotland political show set to debut this Sunday.”

He goes on to say: “It is understood BBC Scotland was last night considering late revisions to the programme”, before later adding:  “However, Radio Times lists Ms Dugdale as one of two presenters, the other being Andrew Wilson, a managing partner at strategic communications company Charlotte Street Partners, who served as an SNP MSP until 2003.

“Both recorded a pilot on Sunday for the programme that is replacing the long-running Headlines.”

On Monday, allmediascotland pointed readers to a piece by McLaughlin in the Saturday edition of The Scotsman, about the BBC and the making of a Better Together cinema advert.

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BEGINS The Guardian, here: “UK national newspaper advertising revenue will fall below £1 billion for the first time in 2014, according to one new industry forecast.

“Total UK advertising revenues are projected to increase 5.4 per cent this year, fuelled by bumper spending on ITV during the football World Cup, but the advertising bonanza will not be shared by national papers, according to the latest forecast by WPP’s combined media buying arm, GroupM.”

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TRAINING on ‘digital storytelling’ is taking place in Glasgow on Saturday.

Say the organisers, the National Union of Journalists, the workshop will cover four areas: video and audio for the web, social media as a research and verification tool and online community engagement.

The event is free for NUJ members. For more details, email joanm@nuj.org.uk.

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REPORT gardens and gardening? Check out our new twitter.com/allGardensPR.

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THE new chair of the body responsible for promoting Edinburgh – Gordon Robertson – writes in The Scotsman today: “… step outside Edinburgh to compare the capital against its European counterparts and the reality is bracing – Edinburgh’s promotional activity still remains fragmented, under-funded and under-resourced. We don’t need to promote less – we need to promote more. More money, more collaboration, more ambition, ultimately bringing more return to the city. That’s what Marketing Edinburgh is determined to deliver.”

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BEGINS The Herald, today: “A Gaelic broadcaster forced to abandon an attempt to row across the Atlantic to Stornoway is appealing for help to pay an £8,000 salvage bill so he can get his boat back.

“Niall Iain Macdonald, 40, confessed: ‘I’m embarrassed that I have to resort to a plea like this but I feel that I really have no alternative. This is all turning into a bit of a nightmare.'”

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IT’S deadline day for entries to the Scottish Creative Awards. Read more, here.

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SCOTSMAN columnist, George Kerevan, describes today how he and Daily Telegraph Scottish editor, Alan Cochrane, are among the latest journalists to have been involved in a public debate about the upcoming referendum on Scots independence.

The wider piece is about the indyref sparking an upsurge in the general public engaging with politics.

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The 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.

PS Your Noon Briefing is a relatively new venture for allmediascotland.com. We are no longer going to report news, story-by-story. Instead, we are going to find content we hope will be useful, in the belief it will prove to be a more comprehensive service.