They once dominated discourse but the Herald and Scotsman now struggle to hold power to account
Two decades ago, they employed hundreds of staff and dominated the political cultures of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Now, with another independence
referendum potentially on the horizon, the reporting capacity of two of Scotland’s key newspaper titles is so diminished they are struggling to hold government and institutions to account, according to industry veterans, as the Herald plans further dramatic cuts and the Scotsman struggles to find a buyer.
Staff at Newsquest, which owns the Herald and Scotland’s only pro-independence daily, the National, have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, with a meeting on Wednesday between the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and management expected to decide the next steps. On Tuesday morning, colleagues heaped praise on a number of the Herald’s senior reporting staff as they announced they were taking voluntary redundancy. The Scottish
Labour leader, Richard Leonard, tweeted: “Journalism in
Scotland and across the
UK has faced cut after cut after cut. We can’t go on like this.”