Scottish media has a long and distinct history. Scotland has a wide range of different types and quality of media.
Contents |
BBC Scotland runs two national television stations. Much of the output of BBC Scotland Television, such as most news, current affairs and sport programmes, and the Glasgow-based soap opera, River City, are intended for broadcast within Scotland, whilst others, for example many drama and comedy programmes, aim at audiences throughout the United Kingdom and worldwide markets. Newsnight Scotland broadcasts between 11pm and 11.20pm every weeknight.
Two Independent Television stations, STV and ITV1 Border, also broadcast in Scotland. Although they previously had independent existences, Scottish TV (serving the Central Lowlands) and Grampian (serving northern Scotland) now belong to the same company (STV Group plc) and resemble each other closely, apart from regional news and advertising. "ITV Border" has had a more complex position, as it also has to serve neighbouring areas across the border in England and airs a pan-regional news service shared with the Tyne Tees region. Most of the independent television output equates to that transmitted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the exception of news and current affairs, sport, comedy, cultural and Scottish Gaelic language programming.
BBC Alba is the only Gaelic language television service available in Scotland, broadcasting digital terrestrial platform Freeview, as well as Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat.
Scotland has its own BBC services which include the national radio stations, BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Gaelic language service, BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, which is available in the North of Scotland. There are also a number of BBC and independent local radio stations throughout the country.
Launched in 2010, the not-for-profit newsnetscotland.com is a recent addition to Scotland's online news services and provides an alternative to the traditional mainstream media outlets.[1]
STV's website STV Local is a Scottish network of hyper-local, community-based websites. Pilot sites have been launched in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh, Moray and North & South Lanarkshire. The plan is to have a Scotland-wide network of sites up and running by late-2011/early-2012. [2]
The Scotsman.com is based in Edinburgh but covers all of Scotland. Evening Times & The Herald covers mostly Glasgow and the West.
Scotland produces several national newspapers, the Daily Record (Scotland's leading tabloid), the broadsheet The Herald, based in Glasgow, and The Scotsman in Edinburgh. The Herald, formerly known as the Glasgow Herald, changed its name to promote a national rather than a regional identity, while The Scotsman, which used to be a broadsheet, recently switched to tabloid format.
Sunday newspapers include the tabloid Sunday Mail (published by Daily Record parent company Trinity Mirror) and the Sunday Post, while the Sunday Herald and Scotland on Sunday have associations with The Herald and The Scotsman respectively.
Regional dailies include The Courier and Advertiser in Dundee and the east, and The Press and Journal serving Aberdeen and the north.
There are over 700 magazines published in Scotland, by nearly 200 organisations, with an estimated total turnover of £157m per annum.[1]