| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact |
| Owner | Johnston Press |
| Editor | John McLellan[1] |
| Founded | 1817 |
| Political alignment | Centrist |
| Headquarters | 108 Holyrood Rd, Edinburgh |
| Circulation | 38,423[2] |
| ISSN | 0307-5850 |
| OCLC number | 614655655 |
| Official website | www.scotsman.com |
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh. As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423,[2] down from about 100,000 in the 1980s.[3]
Since 16 August 2004 it has been printed in compact format. Its sister Sunday publication, which remains broadsheet, is titled Scotland on Sunday. The Scotsman Publications Ltd also issues the Edinburgh Evening News and the Herald & Post series of free newspapers in Edinburgh, Fife, and West Lothian.
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The Scotsman was launched[4] in 1817 as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyer William Ritchie and customs official Charles Maclaren in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". After the abolition of newspaper stamp tax in Scotland in 1850, The Scotsman was relaunched as a daily newspaper priced at 1d and a circulation of 6,000 copies.
In 1953 the newspaper was bought by Canadian millionaire Roy Thomson who was in the process of building a large media group. The paper was bought in 1995 by David and Frederick Barclay for £85 million. They moved the newspaper from its Edinburgh office on North Bridge, which is now an upmarket hotel, to modern offices on Holyrood Road designed by Edinburgh architects CDA, near the subsequent location of the Scottish Parliament Building.
In December 2005, The Scotsman was acquired, in a £160 million deal, by its present owners Johnston Press a company founded in Scotland and now one of the top three largest local newspaper publishers in Britain.
In recent times its editorial policy has been to attack the movement for Scottish Independence led by the Scottish National Party who form Scotland's devolved government. This stance has been widely ridiculed in the blogosphere, with one in particular - Pseudepigrapha[5] - parodying the Scotsman's 'SNP accused...' series of headlines[6].
John McLellan has been the editor since February 2009. He is vice-chair of the Scottish Daily Newspapers Editors Committee and a trustee of Radio Forth Cash For Kids appeal. He was previously editor of The Journal in Newcastle (until 2003), Scotland On Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News for Scotsman Publications.
Source: The Scotsman Digital Archive
Since 1998, the Scotsman has had an internet portal that features the latest news, sports, business, property, motors and sport in different sections of the site. It has had live webcams and panoramas around Scotland. It also has sections for other Scotsman Publications including Scotland on Sunday and the Evening News.
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