MIDLOTHIAN VIEW
Midlothian View was established in 2014.
Writing about all things Midlothian, with a touch of Edinburgh and East Lothian and The Borders, it gives both a ‘View' of what is happening in the county and also gives everyone a chance to write an article and give their ‘View'. The online platform covers an area populated by around 83,000 people said to be Scotland's fastest growing county.
Sheriffhall Roundabout is a huge issue and it was the View's first ‘big' story in 2014 and 7 years later it still is.
Editor Phil Bowen said: “Lots has been written about and spoken about Sheriffhall, and discussed about it, but it looks exactly the same as it did in 2014. Adding a flyover would get traffic moving north/south but likely increase traffic east/west into congestion either way
“Sheriffhall is also a huge impediment for improving active travel from Midlothian to and from Edinburgh. Cyclists commuting include many Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh staff for whom it would be a fairly short cycle commute from Midlothian.
“Currently it is too dangerous to get through the roundabout by bike and the routes either side are pretty unsafe too.”
“Earlier this year Midlothian View did have a world exclusive in our article about Donald Trump having secret talks with the Duke of Buccleuch...(perhaps fair to warn readers this was published on 1 April).
“Midlothian View is politically impartial. We aim to report on stories to inform readers of local news, a significant part of which is local government and planning, and we aim to do it so that all sides have their say. If someone reads one of our articles and then says “Oh now I understand why that is the way it is or why they think that” then we have done our job.”
THE FERRET www.MidlothianView.com
The Ferret is a slightly different hyperlocal which is more subject based than geographically constrained and it was founded as a cooperative in 2015. The investigative journalists write their articles and often The Ferret has broken stories picked up by national press. The title works on social issues and the environment, and it is also home to the Ferret Fact Service which is Scotland's only non-partisan factchecking service. Their work is only published online at the ferret.scot but sometimes The Ferret partners with other newspapers and their work is then published in print. Their patch is an international one and their most successful stories prior to Covid-19 were those exposing dark money behind Scottish Conservatives candidates. There has also been a lengthy series examining animal welfare and environmental concerns around fish farms.
Recent collaboration with The Herald led to articles answering the question “Who Runs Scotland?” A spokesperson for The Ferret said: “Independent public interest news can do things a bit differently - and that's a win for everyone.”
YOUR HARLOW
Michael Casey began Your Harlow in the Essex town with a population of around 85,000 in 2013. The awardwinning publication is online and attracted an audience of 2.8 million page views in 2019. The aim is to celebrate the good news of all the people and groups living in the area while scrutinising, questioning and challenging.
Sadly, their most popular article featured the death of a little girl in March 2016. Summer Grant died while playing on a bouncy castle which blew away. The story was syndicated around the world.
Michael said: ” We are there. We are at the community event, the sports event, the court case, the council meeting, interviewing the local MP. We live amongst and celebrate our community while scrutinising the powers and holding them to account.” Michael is a graduate of Stirling University and enjoys his annual trips to Edinburgh when he becomes a