The decision by Newsquest to give Scotland a new newspaper is a very shrewd commercial move. Here is a publisher listening to its audience and realising there is a gap in the market.
Given that only 50,000 copies of the National will be published on Monday, it is obviously a pilot launch to see if pro-independence fervour can be translated into newspaper-buying. That’s sensible enough.
It certainly worked for the Sunday Herald, which enjoyed a big circulation boost when it stood alone prior to the referendum in favour of independence. So it’s no surprise that its bold Braveheart editor, Richard Walker, will also edit the National.
Newsquest’s operation is based in Glasgow, the city that showed the greatest enthusiasm for an independent Scotland, so I imagine the city will be a major target for the new title.
Indeed, with the Scottish National Party enjoying renewed support across Scotland, the National could well find buyers in the north and east.
Titles that serve Scotland’s other three major cities - Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee - either supported the Better Together, or remained neutral. In Glasgow, anti-independence voters will be able to go on buying Newsquest’s flagship daily paper, the Herald.
The launch is just one of the signs of a media resurgence in Scotland that has been stimulated by the independence debate. Websites such as Bella Caledonia and Wings Over Scotland have gained substantial followings.
Another planned site, the Common Weal, proclaims a vision of Scotland that “rejects the failed me-first politics that left us all in second place and instead builds a politics that puts all of us first.”
So the initiative by Newsquest, the UK outpost of the US media giant, Gannett, is timely. The independence climate in Scotland shows every sign of continuing and there is no reason why “old media” should not get involved.
