What’s the point of a newspaper these days? Let me explain ... The National has a key role to play
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JUDGING by some of the debates I’ve had in the past weeks, it might be the puzzles pages (four or eight for a weekly newspaper, readers?) But beyond that – The National has a key role to play as Scotland gets set for a new first minister.
While social media has a function too, we can offer you something different.
Before we get there, the background. John Swinney is on course to enter Bute House and it’s fair to say that he’s going to have his work cut out with the slogan “unite for independence”.
While some, including Joanna Cherry and Iona Fyfe, are behind him, no doubt many of our readers will have sampled Robin McAlpine’s analysis which paints an altogether darker picture. Clearly, debate needs to be had and I firmly believe The National is in a better position than ever to deliver a platform for that.
I joined in 2017 and every year I see this newsroom refined, moving more and more towards a brand of serious, analytical journalism that is a clear response to the desire of our readers.
Just this year, we’ve delivered special series on UK arms sales and green freeports – with investigations and different perspectives for you to read and weigh up.
And I find it hard to accept the “comic book” jibe when we have leading analysis from the likes of David Pratt on Gaza (having previously reported from the scene in Ukraine for us).
Then there’s the mushrooming of our newsletter section. In one place, you can subscribe to receive regular analysis straight to your inbox from Common Weal, Scotonomics, Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp and many more.
Of course, there is also our carefully curated letters pages, with community editor Shona Craven dedicated to those. It’s going to be up to The National to turn these resources towards the state of play for Scotland.
You’ll be able to come to our pages – digital and print – away from the toxicity of social media to debate in a space that wants to facilitate progress, not tear down Scotland.
And we’re interested in solutions so we’ll be commissioning analysis that informs debate. That debate will be healthy but challenging. That’s our renewed commitment and that’s our direction of travel.
Here’s one example of a change in The National’s news values. I loved our front pages with a giant “55” splashed over the front to show the latest polling for independence.
And you’ll still find that on there
– but in recent times, we’ve opted to shrink that a little to make space for other major news of the day too.
We would no longer splash on the number alone because polling is only part of the picture. That feel-good factor always sold papers and caught the eye of the movement on newsstands, and it does play a role in normalising the support for independence that others deny exists, but there’s a bigger battle and we have to work together to win it.
One final point. Last week, we launched a new regular feature under our “Back In The Day” banner in the Sunday National – starting with a focus on The Bus Party.
We’ll be running a picture-led spread digging back into the archives to key moments in Scotland’s story in the 20th and 21st centuries. We have a fantastic photo archive to pull from.
I hope it sparks debate and reflection. And I hope, too, that you can show that spread to younger Scots – as a reminder of how we got here and to spark their interest. Let’s have those discussions. The National is here to facilitate those for you.
We have to work together to win the bigger battle