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 The Scotsman cover (11 May 2011) | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact |
| Owner | National World |
| Editor | Alan Young[1] |
| Founded | 1817 |
| Political alignment | None[2] |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Circulation | 6,698 (as of 2024)[3] |
| Sister newspapers | Edinburgh Evening News Scotland on Sunday |
| ISSN | 0307-5850 |
| OCLC number | 614655655 |
| Website | scotsman |
The Scotsman is a Scottishcompact newspaper and daily news website headquartered inEdinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained abroadsheet until August 2004. Its parent company,National World, also publishes theEdinburgh Evening News. It had an audited print circulation of 8,762 for July to December 2022.[4] Its website, Scotsman.com, had an average of 138,000 unique visitors a day as of 2017.[5] The title celebrated its bicentenary on 25 January 2017.
The Scotsman was conceived in 1816[6] and first launched[7] on 25 January 1817 as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyerWilliam Ritchie andcustoms officialCharles Maclaren in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. These two plusJohn Ramsay McCulloch were co-founders of the venture.[8]Circulation was 2,500 in 1837 and slowly rose to 3,500 in 1854.[9]
The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". The price was originally 6d plus 4d tax.[10] After the abolition of newspaperstamp tax in Scotland in 1855,The Scotsman was relaunched as a daily newspaper priced at1d and a circulation of 6,000 copies.[citation needed]
The fledgling paper was originally based at 257 High Street on theRoyal Mile in Edinburgh.[11] Until 1860 the Scotsman shared a building with theCaledonian Mercury newspaper.[12]
In 1860, The Scotsman obtained its own purpose built office onCockburn Street inEdinburgh designed in theScots baronial style by the architectsPeddie & Kinnear.[13] This backed onto their original offices on the Royal Mile. The building bears the initials "JR" forJohn Ritchie, the founder of the company. On 19 December 1904,[14] they moved to much larger new offices at the top of Cockburn Street, facing onto North Bridge, designed byDunn & Findlay (Findlay being the son of the then owner). This huge building had taken three years to build and also had connected printworks on Market Street (in 2024 the City Art Centre). The printworks connected below road level direct toWaverley station in an efficient production line.
In 1953 the newspaper was bought by Canadian millionaireRoy Thomson who was in the process of building a large media group. The paper was bought in 1995 byDavid and Frederick Barclay for £85 million. They moved the newspaper from its Edinburgh office onNorth Bridge, which is now anupmarket hotel, to modern offices in Holyrood Road designed by Edinburgh architects CDA, near the subsequent location of theScottish Parliament Building.[citation needed]
The daily was awarded by theSociety for News Design (SND) the World's Best Designed Newspaper for 1994.[15]
In December 2005,The Scotsman along with its sister titles owned byThe Scotsman Publications Ltd was acquired, in a £160 million deal, byJohnston Press, a company founded in Scotland and at the time one of the top three largest local newspaper publishers in the UK. Ian Stewart has been the editor since June 2012, after a reshuffle of senior management in April 2012 during whichJohn McLellan who was the paper's editor-in-chief was dismissed. Ian Stewart was previously editor ofEdinburgh Evening News and remains as the editor ofScotland on Sunday.[citation needed]
In 2012,The Scotsman was named Newspaper of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.[16]
In 2006 the Barclay Brothers sold Barclay House to Irish property magnate Lochlann Quinn, and in 2013 Scottish video games makerRockstar North, of Grand Theft Auto fame, signed the lease, causing Johnston Press group to move out in June 2014.[17][18] Johnston Press have downsized to refurbished premises at Orchard Brae House in Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, a move which was quoted as saving the group £1million per annum in rent.[19]
The newspaper backed a 'No' vote in thereferendum on Scottish independence.[20]
In November 2018, Johnston Press filed foradministration. Shortly after filing for administration, the company was bought out byJPIMedia, a company which was bought by formerDaily Mirror executive David Montgomery's new National World group in 2020.[21][22]
In July 2023 an extra 52 years were added to the archive alongside the previous archives (1951–2002).[citation needed]
