Your Noon Briefing: Stuart ‘Bullet’ McCartney, IPSO rulings analysis, etc

A RETIRED former reporter at the Scottish Daily Express – routinely described as a newspaper ‘legend’ – has stepped down as welfare officer of the Scots division of a charity which assists journalists who have fallen on hard times.

Stuart ‘Bullet’ McCartney was hailed at a party held earlier this week in Glasgow, attended by Sunday Herald editor, Richard Walker, chair of the Glasgow and West of Scotland branch of the Journalists’ Charity.

Read more, here.

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A CALL has been made to the UK’s regional press to collaborate more, so it can better compete against online giants such as Google and the BBC.

Reports pressgazette.uk, Ashley Highfield – chief executive of the publisher of The Scotsman, Johnston Press – told the Society of Editors regional seminar in Manchester: “I would like to see all the regional and local media players working ever closer together on issues as diverse as web platform development and delivery, on sales, on measuring audiences, and on gathering and mining data.

“Together, we can capture significant economies of scale. We can innovate and transform. We can build an infrastructure which reaches every corner of the UK.”

Johnston Press includes several Scots local newspapers in its portfolio.

Read more, here.

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BEGINS a Scottish Government announcement: “Improved diversity, better promotion of jobs and highlighting opportunities to young people are at the heart of a new Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s creative industries.

“With the sector already worth over £5 billion to the Scottish economy and employing around 68,600 people, the Plan aims to further enhance its economic value and worldwide reputation.”

A list of ‘key action’ points are then revealed, here.

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COMPLAINTS upheld by the press regulator, IPSO – and involving The Herald (here) and The Courier (here) – have been considered by The Guardian’s media pundit, Roy Greenslade, who writes: “The Independent Press Standards Organisation has issued two very different rulings over a similar complaint.

“In so doing, it has demonstrated that newspapers – even when complaints are upheld, as they were in both these instances – can avoid censure if they make sufficient amends for their errors.”

Read more, here.

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SAYS The Herald today: “Photographer to the stars, David Eustace, has been appointed Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University, the institution where he studied his art.

“Eustace, a former prison officer at Barlinnie, graduated with distinction with a BA Photography, Film and Television from the university in 1991.”

Read more, here.

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REPORTS Jasper Jackson, in The Guardian: “Trinity Mirror is planning to double planned cuts to £20m to offset falling print revenues, just three months after announcing it was planning to make £10m in structural cost savings.

“In a trading update covering the first half of 2015, the publisher of the Daily Mirror [Daily Record, etc] said print revenues are expected to fall 11 per cent, with print advertising down 19 per cent. Circulation revenue is expected to fall six per cent, with falling sales partly offset by a cover price increase on the Mirror to 60p in May.

“Digital revenue continues to grow, up 40 per cent driven by a 50 per cent rise in online audience.”

Read more, here and also here, on the website, Daily Business. And the trading update, here.

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ALSO begins Daily Business: “Sky’s Edinburgh-born corporate comms director, Alice Macandrew, has resigned, saying she was tired of her daily commute.

“Ms Macandrew, who has been in the role for three years, said she would leave the satellite broadcaster after its annual results announcement at the end of next month.”

Read more, here.

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