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Are we now going to see more balanced reporting in political coverage after the changes are made we will just have and see.

Haven't the management at Newsquest heard of negotiation.
I have been a Herald reader since the age of 13 (so that's for over 30 years) and couldn't believe what they had done.
OK, there are financial problems but talk about it and don't just swing a big axe about the place.

As soon as I make this comment I suspect it wil automatically be assumed I am some kind of nationalist.

I am not -

The press and media in Scotland are in a dreadful state. They are being mismanaged and asset stripped. Sure this industry is suffering more than most through the changes in technology but this cannot excuse poor reporting and coverage of Scottish issues which will inevtiably be the result of fewer journalists on the ground.

The Evening Times and others had at one time a proud record of campaigning journalism.

STV is a shambles and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland is shedding staff today too.

We need more investment from ´óÏó´«Ã½ and we need someone to restructure STV and perhaps one or more of Scottish newapaper titles to get them back on song.

Those who leave editorial team use your contacts well and set up decent guerrilla online alternative - why not wrap it in ebay or with other commercial partner.

Those that stay on in editorial teams are going to be too knackered to rebuild these titles.

All stats show Scotand to be a news hungry and politcally aware region - surely we deserve more than the fare that is currently being served to us.

#3 joecar

"All stats show Scotland to be a news hungry and politically aware region - surely we deserve more than the fare that is currently being served to us."

You are right, but the market simply isn't there to support what we want.

The days when papers could survive by taking a specific political line and catering to that "market" are long gone.

Those of us who are interested in politics don't want to see only one argument (and those of us who are both Scottish Nationalist and European Unionist don't see our views represented anywhere).

I would buy a paper (combine the Herald, Scotsman, Courier, P&J) which gave me international, UK, national, and appropriate regional news along with a range of different political commentators' articles.

Failing that, I'll stop buying the Herald and simply go online - hoping that some "English" papers will have identified a minority Scottish market.

There is only one very good and unbiased newspaper in Scotland today, thats the Press and Journal, a good source of no nonsense, local, national and international news.

Coming from Glasgow to Aberdeen a year ago I am now shocked and appauled when I pick up either the Herald or the Scotsman.

They really have become political cannon fodder for their own opinions and bias as well as expressing those of their owners.

It's sad that Scotland's press is failing , but over the years it almost without exception has become " Fashionable Liberal left " and is failing to give a balanced view of the news. This , allied to the newspapers' belief that all the public want to read about is the exploits of the " stars" of the various soap operas that blight our lives, has led to readers abandoning newspapers, particularly the home grown variety. News is easier to access on cee fax or on the internet without wading through the dross the press seems to think the readers want.

Totally agree that Scotland is a news hungry nation, but are we recieving the reports that matter? I wonder if this particular paper has had its priorities mixed up and is keener to hold onto those that bring in corporate advertsing £'s and the likes, rather than reporting on real people / real issues even when it might result is losing some advertising income.

It is true that newspapers around the world are in decline, and Scotland is no exception. But it is also true that the Herald and the Scotsman have acted to wilfully accelerate their own decline. As BrianSH suggests, riding a single political hobbyhorse is not a great business strategy for a newpaper in a country where there are four major political parties, all of whose supporters may read newspapers.

I suppose if the Scottish papers were truly national rather than city-based than they could have followed the English model of having (broadly) one broadsheet paper representing each political party interest. But the sight of both the Scotsman and the Herald retreating into the same partisan bunker hasn't done much for their appeal across the spectrum of people genuinely interested in Scottish affairs.

The irony in all this is that Scottish political affairs over the last few years are more interesting and relevant than they have been in decades, and yet these papers singularly failed to seize the competitive advantage that this offered to them. You could even say they spat the dummy. Shame.

"News is easier to access on cee fax or on the internet without wading through the dross the press seems to think the readers want."

I couldn't help having a wee chuckle to myself with this one: ceefax?! I'd forgotten it even existed.

On a more serious note, the recession will forse a lot of businesses to re-examine their business model and should, with the major exception of all the job losses(!), result in a much more favourable and balanced result when we come out at the other side.

has a very bitter article on the demise of the Herald.

Newsquest/Gannett have a history of asset stripping but these latest tactics take the biscuit...
They have no interest in the standard of journalism or engaging in any cultural debate - maximising profits for shareholders is everything.
With Donald Martin in charge, expect nothing better than 'cat stuck up tree' and 'knife crime rampage' stories from The Herald.
Mr Fraser must be glad he got out when he did.
No one can seriously say they buy The Herald or Scotsman for any reason other than habit.

Some of the above are ridiculous.
It is a tragedy that people read less and some young ones are barely literate.
I have been reading the Herald since 1938 and it keeps getting better.
The letters page is acknowledged as one of the best in Britain.
I do not see much evidence of marked bias in politics on its pages.

Just think how good the letters page would be if they did not suppress criticism of The Herald and Newsquest in particular. I understand from staff journalists that the Evening Times and Herald web-sites were inundated with heavy duty criticism of the latest industrial relations scandal at Renfield Street. For some reason these "misguided" critics were prevented from registering their concerns. So much for the Newsquest Multi-media platform, it's a joke with no credibility before it is even born.

Newsnight Scotland-what an entertaining programme it was tonight. Newsquest's Tommy Thompson was a hoot! His analysis of what is probably one of the most disgraceful events in Scottish industrial relations history was amazing. He said it was good for Scottish people (except of course the families of those journalists made redundant or facing new contracts with less pay, less holidays and more hours). He also lauded the new editor -in- chief Donald Martin as a particularly talented journalist. You couldn't make it up.

It was a rare news programme which showed political unity in Westminster and Holyrood and across the parties in their opinion of the Newsquest management behaviour in this our civilised country.

That geezer Thompson on Newsnight Scotland was completely absurd!
How many times did he say the scandalous goings on at the Newsquest titles were 'exciting'???

JohnCraig87 (post #12), I totally get what you are saying.

I don't personally read the Herald so can't speak to that paper specifically but it always makes me laugh when people from all corners of the political spectrum throw accusations of left, right, national or anti-national bias at any particular news body.

Yes, some of the nationals are very biased in favour of particular news angles (Daily Mail, Independent etc) and I'd be foolish to argue otherwise, but you often find people on opposite sides of the political divide complaining about the bias levelled at them by the SAME paper or media outlet. It's that which always makes me smile.

Clearly you can't be both left and right leaning at the same time so one or both observations has to be inaccurate.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ often gets the same stuff libelled against it. I've seen liberals, labour, tories and nationalists all decry the bias against them in the ´óÏó´«Ã½ when clearly common sense tells you that this simply can't be the case. Either it's biased in favour of one of them or none or them - but it can't be biased against them all simultaneously.

To put it a different way there is another word for such "bias against everyone" - it's called impartiality. And that is as it should be.

I'm often reminded of the old journalistic maxim - if you're annoying everybody then you're doing you're job properly.

And before anybody flames me, this is a general observation about criticisms levelled at the media in general - and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in particular - and not the Herald per se, for whom I can't speak having not read it for a while.

Yes, some newspapers are clearly very biased, but the majority of journalists I know don't come at a story from any particular political angle - and they wouldn't have the time to even if they wanted to because staffing in the industry as a whole is stretched wafer thin.

When you're working that hard there simply isn't time to over-think how a piece is going to be perceived by the masses.

It is this bare-bones situation which is the truly scandalous thing about what is happening at the Herald right now.

The more staff they cut, the less time the remaining journalists will have to spend on a story and the less chance they will have to cut through spin to get to the actual nub of a tale.

It is that which lies at the heart of the 'bias' so many see, because journalists don't have time to truly analyse the veracity of a press release etc before punting it out there for all to see.

With staffing so low, and the 24 hour mass media now so prevalent they simply haven't the time.

That is what is truly worrying for our democracy and what worries me about Newsquest's actions, as they can only erode the situation further.

Douglas,
It is sad that the journalists at your former job; are being fired....

~Dennis Junior~