The Scotsman
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| The Scotsman | |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Compact |
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| Owner | Johnston Press |
| Editor | Mike Gilson [1] |
| Founded | 1817 |
| Political allegiance | Centre-right, Unionist |
| Price | GBP 0.70 Monday-Friday & GBP 0.85 Saturday |
| Headquarters | 108 Holyrood Rd, Edinburgh |
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| Website: www.scotsman.com | |
The Scotsman is a Scottish national newspaper, published in Edinburgh. It has an audited circulation of 53,513 "ABC Data". This represents a significant drop from an approximately 100,000 circulation from the 1980s. [2]
Since August 16, 2004, it has been printed in compact format. Its sister Sunday publication, which remains broadsheet, is titled Scotland on Sunday. The Scotsman Publications Ltd also produces the Edinburgh Evening News and the Herald & Post series of free newspapers in Edinburgh, Fife, and West Lothian.
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[edit] History
The Scotsman was launched [3] in 1817 as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyer William Ritchie and customs official Charles Maclaren in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". After the abolition of newspaper stamp tax in Scotland in 1850, The Scotsman was relaunched as a daily newspaper priced at 1d and a circulation of 6000 copies.
In 1953 the newspaper was bought by Canadian millionaire Roy Thomson who was in the process of building an enormous media empire. The paper was in 1995 bought by billionaires David and Frederick Barclay for £85 million. They moved the newspaper from its traditional Edinburgh office on North Bridge, which is now an upmarket hotel, to state-of-the-art offices on Holyrood Road, near where the Scottish Parliament Building was subsequently built.
In December 2005, The Scotsman was acquired, in a £160 million deal, by its current owners Johnston Press a company founded in Scotland and now one of the top three largest local newspaper publishers in the UK as well as a major force on the internet.
The last decade or so has seen the paper replaced by The Herald as the preeminent Scottish quality newspaper in terms of readership.[citation needed]
[edit] Politics
The Scotsman was a staunch supporter of Scottish devolution, though is considered Unionist. It strongly opposed the decision to create the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
