[A-List] UK news media: Herald newspapers

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

It is utterly appalling to think that Andrew "Brillo Pad" Neil could get his
hands on the Herald newspapers and proceed to destroy them just like he did
The European (a good idea by Robert Maxwell), the Sunday Business, and the
Edinburgh-based Scotsman. The fact that the FT editorialises against Neil is
a reasonably good sign of the sort of thinking taking place within the ranks
of those making the decisions on this. As is the gratuitous sideswipe at the
Scottish parliament.


LEADER: Scottish media
Financial Times; Nov 06, 2002

A battle is shaping up over the future of the Scottish press. One of its
pillars, the Glasgow-based Herald newspapers, is being sold by Scottish
Media Group (SMG), which has heavy debts to pay off. The sale has attracted
several bids. But what is believed to be the highest bid, by Sir David and
Sir Frederick Barclay, poses a particular problem. For the Barclay twins
already own Scotland's other premier national newspaper group, Scotsman
Publications, based in Edinburgh. And their purchase of the Herald would
bode ill for the diversity of the serious broadsheet press in the country.

Scotland still has a distinctive press. Its main locally produced papers are
more akin to those in Germany or the US in serving up a mix of national and
international as well as local news, rather than to provincial English
papers which have generally lost such ambitions. But in recent years they
have come under heavy pressure from the "tartan" editions of London-based UK
dailies.

In the face of this Sassenach competition, there is industrial logic in the
Barclays' bid. The Scotsman and Herald groups each have a daily, Sunday and
evening paper, and printing presses 40 miles apart. Obvious synergies from
combining them explains why the Barclays may have bid high. But there are
other reasons why their bid, if chosen by SMG, should be referred to the
Competition Commission and why it should not succeed.

Even though the Scotsman and Herald markets are quite segmented, together
they might dominate advertising across the central belt where most of
Scotland's 5m people live. It is possible to conceive of some kind of trust
arrangement that would preserve the Herald's editorial independence; but the
record of the Barclays and their Scotsman publisher, Andrew Neil, would not
create confidence in it.

Mr Neil has used the Scotsman to shake up what he regards as the shibboleths
and corporatism of the Scottish establishment, taking a strong editorial
line against devolution, against the public sector, and against Europe and
the euro.

Nothing wrong with that. If he wants to offend the centre-left sensibilities
of most Scots, that is up to him and the Barclays, though it appears to have
cost the Scotsman readers and profits.

However, it does not mark out him or the Barclay twins as inclined to the
hands-off editorial approach required if they were to be allowed to take
over Scotland's other main opinion-forming newspaper. Scots need to be able
to read about the pros as well as the cons of self-government if they are to
reach an informed judgment on it.

Many in the Scottish parliament would love to block the takeover ambitions
of a man who has been so rude about their institution. But they did not get
the power to regulate the media. Nor should they, until the parliament has
proved itself in other ways. But the decision-makers in London should
recognise their responsibility for preserving press plurality north of the
border.