THE newspaper you hold in your hands, or are reading on your phone or laptop, is 238 years old. That’s a fair old age. Back then, the big news was the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, ending the Revolutionary War, which recognised the new nation’s independence. At home, the constitution was drafted for the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, making it the oldest in the British Isles, and Elspeth Buchan proclaimed herself, in Irvine, as possessed of heavenly powers, leading to the formation of a Society of Buchanites.
A lot has changed – but a lot hasn’t. We remain, as the nation’s only broadsheet, committed to fair and impartial coverage of Scotland’s affairs. We provide comprehensive coverage of news, politics, sport and business seven days a week. Our website, which is recording record traffic, is the go-to for live, minute by minute, news. As news is now reported almost as it happens on Herald Scotland, the paper can afford to take a longer, indepth look at the big issues.
Our opinion pages (or as we call them, the op-eds), are where Scotland’s opinion formers come together to discuss the affairs of the day. Today, we have Hugh MacDonald, Uzma Mir, Kevin Mackenna, Brian Beacom, Helen McArdle and Struan Stevenson all contributing – diverse voices that no other news outlet in Scotland can even aspire to match.
We don’t tell them what to write. All we ask is they keep it legal and decent and accurate. As it says on the front of the op-ed pages, and at the end of the pieces online, “Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.”
As the Opinion editor I commission pieces every day that I disagree with because how else can Scotland move forward if we don’t all understand the gamut of views? In the midst of a social media whirlwind which endlessly loops back the same opinions to the same people, there is a lack of wider understanding, of common ground. We can see where this closed loop took the US. It made it a country where one half didn’t understand the other half.
Now, we don’t imagine that The Herald can turn that round on its own, but we can certainly try. To that end, from the middle of the month we will be welcoming even more voices in the shape of Lesley Riddoch.
This comes on top of last month’s additions: foreign editor David Pratt, concert promoter Donald MacLeod, former Labour MP Brian Wilson, Scottish Farmer’s political editor Claire Taylor and an extra column from Kevin Mackenna.
We hope you find them stimulating – even if you don’t always agree with them. In the meantime, feel free to contribute to the debate on our letters pages or online because The Herald is the home of honest debate.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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