| Product: |
The Scotsman |
| Date: |
23/08/08 (137 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: See Review
Disadvantages: See Review
What Is It?
The Scotsman newspaper is a widely avalible daily scottish newspaper. It has 2 sister publications which is the Evening News (for Edinburgh) and the Scotland on Sunday which is the big weekly round up of all the stories. This is one of the most popular papers for up-to-date news stories in Scotland.
History
The Scotsman was launched in 1817 by Charles MacClaren and William Ritchie. Based in Edinburgh, they wanted to make a paper that was just for Scotland. It started out at 1d (a shilling) and had a circulation of 6,000 copies. By the 1900's it really started to pick up even though it was really still based in Edinburgh, but it was still going strong.
In 1952 the newspaper was bought by canadian millionaire Roy Thompson who had ideas to make it Scotlands biggest newspaper. The newspapers sucess soared and circulation was getting all over Scotland.
In 1995 it was bought again of billionaires Fredirick and David Barclay. They where the ones who modernised the newspaper and even moved the Edinburgh office into state of the art offices in Holyrood. Ever since then the circulation is about 70,000 with alot of readers in Eastern Scotland. It has established itself as a quality newspaper which it has earned.
Editor
The editor (at time review is written) is Mike Gilson. Formally editor of The News in Portsmouth, he was one of the choices for the job. He has been editor for more than 2 years now.
National/International?
The Scotsman is a national (scottish) newspaper which can only be bought in Scotland however it deals with local, national and international issues. It can be sent abroad using a feature which sends them in the post. This was designed particuarly for Scot's in Canada but now a lot of people just send them links using their website.
Front Page
The Scotsman is quite a distinctive newspaper. It has a bold title of "The Scotsman" with the classical scottish thistle above it. It then has the top story and a couple of pictures depending on the story. It could be about anything from Scottish Politics to an International story. You sometimes get something free e.g. a poster or promotional giveaway. That is usually on the top bar. It is a very attractive bold paper and would definately attract alot of readers.
Contents/Issues Covered
As i've said they cover world to local stories. When the election was on they had polictical facts etc and if there has been a terrorist attack it would usually cover that. Once it has gone through all the main stories it heads off the 'features' section. This is where alot of the arts stories are based. This isn't usally a very big section but still has quite alot of revelence espeically at the Edinburgh festival time.
It then moves onto Opinion. This is where letters to the editor are printed and authors can express view they feel strongly about e.g. Politics, a book or even just something in general! There are usually different authors everyday but you sometimes see them again a week later. It then goes onto buisness, the share index, farming and agriculture, games and cinema and finally sport. It also has alot of advertising which will discuss late on in review.
Sports Section
The sport is at the end of the newspaper. This makes it great for the sports fans in the family as you can just fip it over and no hastle trying to find the right page. It has quite a big section on sport. It includes detailed horse racing results and predictions. Then the main sports like football, rugby, swimming, cycling, cricket, golf and then the less publiscised sports like hocky, shinti (scottish sport), bowls, weight lifting etc. So it has a wide variety for all. The Scotsman does go into alot of detail about scottish football teams like Hibbs, Hearts, Rangers, Celtic, Gretna etc and doesn't go into that much detail about international footie. It does do side articles but not as much detail as you would in a national newspaper. Still it has very supporting to Scottish teams especially in the rugby where it offered a free rugby guide and everything.
Quality of Writing And Print
The quality of writing is very impressive. It is a very neatly written and literaral paper. It is not scruffy and substandard. The quality newspaper it claims to be is true. It claims to be made of 80% recycled newspaper so it is quite eco-friendly. The pictures are good quality and the color is good and bright. The font they have used is repeated through out and is clear and legible.
Originality
It is a very original newspaper. It has been around for a long, long time and has developed its own style. Unless it does something very bad, it will always be a popular newspaper in Scotland and behond.
Advertising
It does have alot of adverising. However it is not a full page spread that just annoys you, it is in a corner which is usally colorful and bright with a company. So you don't have to read it if you don't want to. They've put in a Classfield which contains everything from times for shows, to stuff to buy second hand. I've even seen holidays advertised! You can advertise as well at a price which I would expect to be quite high.
Is It Biased?
It started out in 1817 being a liberal, pro-scottish independence newspaper. It has moved on in the years, changing to favour the overall public opion but it is very radical middle when it comes to alot of issues. It however over the past year turned very Labour and favouring the party alot. It is fairly biased towards the party in my opioin but without politics it is fair and does air all sides of the story.
Price
Only 80p so its a very good price. It is a newspaper that runs every week day from Monday to Friday. So thats only £4 a week if you were to get it everyday. I still do remember however when it was just 50p. That was only a couple of years ago as well.
Website
It has a very good website which is updated hourly to keep up with the worlds story. It is also very useful if you can't get a copy you can just read the main story and it is technically more enviormentally friendly (in my opioin) It even did a story a couple of months ago that it was getting hits in Canada, USA and even Austrailla from Scots around the world. A new feature i noticed being advertised was you can go onto the archive to look back on newspapers as far back as 1817! So if you wanted to know what was happening on the day of your birth you could ha ve a look at the top stories. I thought this was a great feature.
This is also great if you just want to check it out and see if you agree with me!
www.scotsman.com
Where Can You Get It?
From what I believe, because it is a scottish newspaper it can only be purchased in Scotland but you can read it online. This is usally scattered all over Scotland but i've found most copies are found in train stations, newsagents etc. There is even a little stand in Princess Street (and i'm sure there are more!) which just sells them so have a look around. Even if your just coming to Scotland for a visit it's a great wee souvenir to have. So almost any place in Scotland that sells newspapers should have this.
What's Right With It?
It is a great national newspaper to read. It has all the top stories with added local stories included so your getting more than a general round-up. The writing is top notch and very clear. You can pop onto a train from Edinburgh, read it and finish it by the time you get to Glasgow (as tried and tested by me!) It has Sudoku and crosswords whcih are submitted by readers themselves which i love doing. And then just put it in the recycling when your done. It's that easy!
What's Wrong With It?
It can be biased at times. It isn't always but it does sometimes tend to head in one direction. But that really is about it.
Conclusion
I've been reading newspapers since i was very young and this is my favourite. It is a well writen newspaper and I can't seriously fault it. It is a great scottish newspaper and gets 5 stars from me.
Janie x
©scotlandizdabest
Summary: A really good read.
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