Your Noon Briefing: Lepitak named Drum editor, STV city channels, etc

BEGINS The Drum media and marketing magazine: “The Drum has promoted [its] online editor, Stephen Lepitak, to the position of editor, taking over from Gordon Young who is moving to the post of editor-in-chief.

“Young, who was named Business Editor of the year by the PPA in 2013, will now concentrate on growing The Drum in both New York and Singapore as well as the company’s TV and events operations.”

Read more, here.

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BEGINS an announcement from STV: “STV’s city TV channels, STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh, are enhancing their schedules for viewers in Scotland’s largest cities with extended transmission hours, additional news bulletins and sport.”

In summary, from the second of next month, the channels will be on air from 7am (currently, it’s midday).

And there’s also to be a football show at the weekend, to complement the current weekday offering.

Plus, there are to be new features broadcast at 2030 and children’s programming from 0700 each weekday morning and 0900 at weekends.

Read more, here.

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THE University of the West of Scotland is reporting that it is the ‘number one UK University for social media engagement’.

Says the university website, here, the accolade is from an external assessor: “EduRank is a widely-respected comparative ranking tool which measures the success and reach of UK education institutions’ social media marketing. Out of 168 UK universities and HEIs we ranked as top, building on our rankings growth since November.”

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BEGINS Libby Brooks, in The Guardian: “It’s a country with plenty to offer a film production: breathtaking scenery, versatile urban locations and a wealth of technical and creative talent.

“But while Scotland has lately enjoyed an extraordinary flourishing across culture – most notably in theatre and the visual arts – Scottish film has, according to one leading producer, been ‘left to wither’.

“A Scottish Government inquiry, expected to report within a fortnight, has heard senior industry figures describe institutional neglect, disillusionment and deep frustration as local competitors in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales enjoy a big- and small-screen ‘gold rush’.”

Read more, here.

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ALSO in The Guardian, this time by Alasdair Glennie: “Industry researchers predict more than half of marketing cash will be spent digitally as tablets, smartphones and digital media dominate Britain’s shopping habits.

The UK is on course to become the first country in the world where spending on digital advertising outstrips all other traditional formats combined.”

Read more, here.

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THANKS to Ken Smith’s diary in The Herald today (here), for this: “WE mentioned the sad death of former Daily Record chief reporter, and good friend of The Diary, Gordon Airs. Gordon led a very full life which was reflected in his Death notice in The Herald yesterday which noted he was the loving father of Kevin and Kirstin then added: ‘husband to wives and partners too numerous to mention.’ Way to go Gordon.”

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AN op ed on the website, Newsnet.scot, claims local story has morphed into a ‘NHS in crisis’ one, on BBC Radio Scotland.

Writer, GA Ponsonby, claims it’s not the first time…

Read more, here.

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BEGINS The Scotsman, here: “It is a rare opportunity to turn the tables on one of the fiercest interrogators around, all for a good cause.

“A Scottish charity which helps people with mobility difficulties to lead independent lives is offering one lucky group of diners the chance to have a dinner date with veteran broadcaster Jeremy Paxman.”

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BEGINS Mark Smith, in today’s Herald newspaper: “There’s a problem with children’s television: there’s an awful lot of it but an awful lot of it is not very good.

“Not only that, many of the programmes are imported and re-dubbed and the majority of the output is made up of repeats, presumably on the basis that young children in particular like repetition. Round and round we go, boys and girls. Children deserve better.”

Read more, here.

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