Welcome to the Caledonian Mercury
January 22, 2010 by Stewart Kirkpatrick · 135 Comments
Ne quid false dicere audeas, ne quid veri non
We are proud to welcome you to the Caledonian Mercury, Scotland’s first truly online newspaper. The Mercurius Caledonius was Scotland’s first print newspaper, founded in 1660 by Thomas Sydserf. We have revived its historic title because we lay claim to the great Scottish tradition of journalistic innovation.
We seek to revive Scottish journalism by using the internet rather than railing against it. The Caledonian Mercury stands for intelligent reporting, informed analysis and raising the standard of debate in Scottish life. It also seeks to return journalism to journalists and is a platform to display the work of selected specialist writers – freed from the demands of filling space, toeing the line and “feeding the beast”.
We believe that there has never been a better time to be in the business of journalism, never a better time to find fascinating stories and never a better time to be part of a conversation with our readers. The internet frees us from machine media and brings us closer to the people who inspire and consume our writing.
As you may deduce from our name and masthead we are not ashamed of our Scottishness. We have no time for the cringing pessimism that characterises so much of our nation’s life today. No, we are proud of Scotland’s history and traditions. At the same time, we are confident about its future and secure in its role in the modern world. For us Scotland is only truly herself when she is outward looking and inventive.
The Scottish cringe did not invent the telephone, RADAR or the television. The principle of “Ah kent yer faither” did not give birth to ideas that Enlightened the world. It is with that in mind that we have unveiled this very different newspaper. It is radically different from what has gone before. That is no accident.
We will not pretend to cover every story. We shall certainly avoid chasing after what has been done elsewhere. Instead we shall focus on the areas of our writers’ expertise, freed from any diktats from the Editor’s chair. And instead of following the pack we will seek out our own path. Our purpose is to provide in-depth and unique coverage of specific areas of Scottish life. Our print edition will not be daily or weekly and will celebrate the debate we hope our writing provokes.
This newspaper is an experiment in the evolution of media. It is a statement of belief in a better public life. It does not fear the possibility of failure and instead relishes the prospect of change.
Most importantly, it holds dear the pledge of its antecedent: “To assert no falsehood and to hide no truth.”
Related posts:
- The previous incarnations of the Caledonian Mercury
- Caledonian Mercury team up with Scotland on Facebook
- Winner of the Caledonian Mercury/Jura ‘Comment of the Week’ award
- This week’s winner of the Caledonian Mercury ‘comment of the week’
- This week’s winner of the Caledonian Mercury ‘comment of the week’
- The Caledonian Mercury/Jura ‘comment of the week’ prize
- Join the Caledonian Mercury online focus group
- The Caledonian Mercury/Jura ‘comment of the week’ prize
- The Caledonian Mercury/Jura ‘comment of the week’ prize
- The Caledonian Mercury/Jura ‘comment of the week’ prize
Perhaps before making such sweeping statements as ‘Scotland’s first truly online newspaper’ you should do your home work…
http://www.shetland-news.co.uk
Since 1995
Nitpicker. Your comment embodies what is so trully depressing about Scotland. We’ll do anything to undermine people who try to do anything that challenged the status quo, let alone try to actually achieve anything real and valuable. How bloody sad, Mr Shetland Man.
‘Scotland’s first truly online newspaper’ suggest it is a national. the Shetland News is a local.
Perhaps before being totally annoying and making a right fool of yourself you should remember that shetland-news deals with news either from or concerning Shetland rather than Scotland making it Shetland’s first truly online newspaper as opposed to Scotland’s first truly online paper. Stop finding tiny problems with what is clearly progress.
Decent job, chaps. Now, if the bar is open I’ll have a short snort.
Congratulations on the launch and I wish you every success. Great timing and a chance to reflect and influence the debates that will shape our future.
How will you avoid being drawn down into the trenches of blog trolling?
Stewart,
Congratulations on your launch. The site looks great!
From,
Your friends at StudioPress.com
Good luck with the paper.
It is good to see among all the debate about the future of journalism in the internet age that someone is actually responding to the challenge and not jutr throwing their rattle out of the pram like a certain antipodean media owner.
I sat in a Chamber of COmmerce event in Edinburgh about 2 years ago and listened to the then MD of the Scotsman say “…everyone knows that the web is nowhere to launch a brand”
oh dearie me. I’m still chuckling.
Please report news that counts. Not news that is Scottish tow-the-line pc nonsense!
Good luck to all involved with this venture. If your courage in contemplating this move is matched by equally courageous and constructive journalism, the Cal Merc will be the clarion call for the future. I look forward to the coming months.
PS – do you want a shinty correspondent / photographer?
I’m fed up with all this nonsense about the ‘Scottish cringe’ that I read in some quarters in Scotland and even in your ’start up’ comments. And it annoys me to also read there, your silly remark “….we are not ashamed of our Scottishness…..” I have NEVER had a cringe. And no Scot that I know has one. And I have NEVER met a Scotsman who was ashamed of being Scottish. How can that be possible when every European (including many English folk) and American I meet is desperate to prove he has some Scottish ancestry.
You have never seen the utter cringing of Jim Murphy and Iain Gray on Brighton beach (ENGLAND) struggling with a Scottish flag? They were attempting to wrestle that flag from the Scottish people but were instead wrestling it from the wind on the seafront whilst being ashamed of their Scottishness. They clearly felt the Saltire was attacking them out of spite. These anti-Scots are the very cringing Scots which you said you have never witnessed.
I am afraid that the Scottish cringe is very real and still alive and well in the heads and hearts of, it has to be said, mainly unionist politicians.
They very loudly proclaim their pride in being Scottish and our great history but then declare that they see no future for Scotland except to be run by another country and kept as a house-bound housewife while the ‘man of the house’ (that’ll be the UK Govt) steps out into the big bad world and looks after all the difficult bits for her.
The cringe encourages, in large measure, a lowering of aspiration and a limitation of hope for the People of Scotland, stock-in-trade tools of the ‘Scottish’ Labour Party to keep the natives at bay:
“For they still prefer sheep to thinking men
Ah, but men who think like sheep are even better”
“the cringe” is something I’ve only ever seen demonstrated by those who prefer the description “British”.
Hi there, best of luck with the new venture, only…
Why call it a news paper?
How about breaking new ground and running a competition to find a new, as yet uncoined, name for your output?
Starters for 10 – i-Screen, Newsbase, WebNews…
I’m sure there is something better out there, not just the truth!
Best wishes for a brightening and secure future.
A few gaidhlig words and phrases here and there would be welcome
Fantastic – all the best for your new venture.
Excellent idea and a great presentation of the site on Newsnight, I wish you all the best.
Good luck to the Caledonian Mercury and all who sail in her. A very welcome development. I have become sick to death of reading propoganda posing as journalsim in the Scotsman and Herald, which are both pale shadows of their former selves. Personally, as with Colcannon’s comment, I like the resurrection of the Unicorn symbol. A nice touch. I will be a frequent visitor, if this first, balanced and informative edition is anything to go by.
Best wishes.
I see you have a moderator, other newspapers have a moderator, a moderator is just a censor, that will not allow he truth to be printed. I lived and worked in South Africa during the Apartheid period, and saw Press sensorship. But the UK is much worse that the Apartheid Press Censorship ever was. It looks like your paper may be just that same censored garbage we have become customed to in the UK. Devoid of the truth and freedom we need in Scotland.
That’s a bit harsh, just because they have a comment moderator?
Unfortunately an online news portal is held legally responsible for the content of any comments posted, even if they place a disclaimer on there saying that it’s the opinion of the poster, not the paper.
A moderator is necessary to stop offensive content from being published and to remove any that slips through the net. From what we’ve seen so far it seems the moderator is allowing all comments, positive or negative, as long as they’re not inflammatory.
All very well in theory, but a quick look at the Evening News’s online edition will show you the sort of bams who clog up comments boards with drivel. (And that is with a moderator.) Unfortunately, if you want to read intelligent comments, you need a moderator to filter out the moronic ones.
We are moderating every comment so far. I have to say the standard’s very high and the level of bampottery negligible
Fifi, Grahamski and Rufus have yet to show up!
Best of fortune to all at The Mercury! At last, hopefully a contender to the recycled agency copy we read on other sites
Is the unicorn supposed to look like the outline of Scotland?
It sort of does… in a very abstract sort of way :)
First of all, let me wish you the best of luck. Your proscribed aim of intelligent reporting and analysis is to be applauded. However I fear you will attract a minute readership. As a Scot, recently returned, and having spent half my life abroad, i’ve been dismayed, by the ignorance, intolerance, bigotry, excess drinking, poor diet, and general culture of dependency of my ain folk. How do you propose to reach out to the nation. I learned of your existence from newsnight. What percentage of Scots watch that. Wha’s like us ! Indeed.
May I encourage all here who enjoy this publication to tell your family, friends, people you pass in the street et al! Send them the link to the CalMerc statement of values on day 1 and get them reading and contributing.
I believe the advertising speak to describe this is “viral spread” but it has worked very well in recent times including, for instance, the ‘defeat’ of the X-Factor bid for Christmas number 1.
Significant awareness of an on-line only publication can be achieved, and quickly, by the viral method. Please all go forth and multiply the CalMerc readership!
I rarely manage to see Newsnight, I’d like to have seen the Cal Merc presentation, but learned about the Cal Merc on the Scotsman forums. Since then, I have told family & frends, and other family members have told me. Prime example of ‘viral spread’. Thoroughly enjoying the articles and comments so far, and have got rid of my scotsman email delivery. I think I’m in danger of becoming a ‘Rabfan’. I’m looking foward to the 1st edition of the print version now.
Good luck with the venture. I have very much enjoyed reading today’s edition and look forward to hopefully at last reading regular balanced and intelligent analysis of the news.
Good Luck Caledonian Mercury with this new venture, really like what I have read so far intresting articles, and a long last a Scottish Paper which at first sight does not seem to be another Labour propaganda tool
Title belongs in 1660 or a tartan shop but other wise very very good. Thank you and the best of luck too you all.
Surely you can look back in time to give a mere name to the future-nothing shortbread tin about it, it is a very informative title!
A very warm welcome the Caledonian Mercury. I look forward to reading real Journalism every day
Congratulations Stewart, and the rest of the team, for having the courage of your convictions and the vision to plot an optimistic future. Courage and vision are characteristics which, for many years, have been noticeably absent from Scottish media.
You deserve to succeed, not just to break the mould, but because everyone with a basic understanding of the news business ought to know that there really are few, if any, viable alternatives.
Good luck and best wishes for success.
Gordon Mack
Former Digital Media Editor, The Herald
A hearty welcome to you – layout looks good, more importantly, content looks very good indeed.
And let’s hope your cyberthreads are less toxic than the Scotsman’s!
Good read so far – good luck
Can you tell us what your politics are? For instance which party, if any, will you be supporting at the next general election?
John,
There is no editorial line because we don’t see the value of having one. We believe in debate rather than diktats. Each of our writers is an established specialist in their field. To be candid, they know far more about their specialisms than I do so there’s no point in me trying to impose my will on their coverage.
And if I ever tried telling Rab what to do he’d not only ignore me but make everyone else laugh at me…
Come the election, I’ll invite each of our correspondents to pen their thoughts and individuals may back whatever party they choose. (I will occasionally write articles but these will be as an individual writer and not as the voice of the paper.)
I know it’s a different approach but I believe it’s more stimulating.
Stewart Kirkpatrick
Editor, The Caledonian Mercury
It’s good to see journalists putting their faith in the internet as a publishing medium. The Caledonian Mercury will be my new daily. Looking forward to seeing it develop its identity in the Scottish news scene. Well done Stewart and team.
It was interesting to learn about the launch of Caledonian Mercury from Newsnight Scotland. Did your new e-paper get many hits as a result of the TV coverage?
I hope that you’ll be publishing circulation figures like the paper papers do. Don’t bother clssifying the readership into As, Bs and Cs though. If they’re reading stuff of this calibre, they have minds above such things.
Ballsy and innovative – I applaud the can-do approach. Further evidence that Pay walls won’t work :
http://www.observer.com/2010/media/after-three-months-only-35-subscriptions-newsdays-web-site
Heard about the CM through some mates. Please whatever you do dont turn into another Hootsmon or Herald. Both started off as Scottish newspapers but have ended up (like BBC “Scotland”) as Labour/Unionist propargander rags.
Meantime good luck and stay Scottish.
Best wishes, here’s hoping we see some real journalism now, unfettered by foreign owners. I don’t mind what any journalist writes, as long as its a fair and honest appraisal of what is going on, and is their own thoughts and not their lord and masters.
Congretulations, let’s keep our pride, our humour and our identity, proud scot.
oops! should be wearing the right glasses when typing
This new paper looks good. but it must not follow the scotsman & herald in denigrating the Scottish Government at every turn.This would lead to it’s demise.
All the very best on a brave and worthwhile venture.
I have become so disillusioned with our two National offerings lately that I found myself coming home with tartan versions of the English broadsheets instead.
They were no worse than indiginous brands for Scottish content but at least had more serious and outward looking material without the dreaded cringe factor.
Hope you guys continue on from a very promising start……just one question…..where does the money come from?………I for one would pay for a decent newspaper!!!
Good luck with your venture.
A small (but important) point for those of advancing years ! any chance of incorporating a facility to increase the font sixe ?
You might also want to think about including coverage of other small states – Catalonia ,Pays Basque, Ireland
Simply hit Ctrl, Shift and plus simultaneously, PEEJAY. If that does not make the Mercury large enough, then just do it again!
JA
Good luck with your new independent paper. I feel its needed badly and im sure it will be a great success.
Im hoping you can give coverage to the business of Holyrood, Scottish news and politics in general.
Fantastic modern looking epaper. Back in a minute -I’m off to the hootsmon to tell them what I really think;}
Best of luck! The site looks great, and if it can manage to be a truly neutral, unbiased source of news then it is sure to be a success. I know many people who are sick of reading what are essentially labour party press releases in the ‘national press’.
A new newspaper is sorely needed, and we all know the future is online.
Best of luck!
All the best to Caledonian Mercury and hopefully to a news product that will simply not pander to the Unionist parties.
All this newspaper needs to succeed is to live up to the statement in this first article-Scotland has needed a warts and all approach to her politics rather than the shocked and stunned (still) approach of the likes of the herald and the Scotsman since 2007, and I mean criticism of all parties, their objectives, policies etc. when deserved, and praise as well, again when deserved.
An astute and realistic political analysis, explanations and research into what is actually going on is what the inhabitants of Scotland have needed for such a long time, far able to inform then merely reprinting some claim by a political party via a press release-that isn’t journalism, in fact it is as far removed from true journalism as it is possible to get!
A welcome addition to Scottish life, hopefully.
As a Scot currently living in England, I rely on the internet for home news. I am really pleased to say I have not been to the Scotsman website once this week (unheard of for me), but have been on this site every day. Long may this continue and congratulations on a very promising start.
Great initiative. I look forward to independent coverage of the election campaign!
As Scot, transplanted to Canada at an early age, I have always been intensely interested in all things going on in the home country. So online news has been my primary touchstone in this endeavor. For sometime I have been growing disenchanted with the established journalistic endeavors, and find your arrival a huge breath of fresh air. Please, please, do not change your format.
Congratulations on your start-up and my best wishes for your continued success.
Thought that I had already commented; onto the Cal Merc via Robert MacNeils suggestion.
It is not only breaking news that we require but comment and analysis which C M will provide.
Will continue reading and from time to time scribbling in
Tom
so far its living up to its name,(caledonian-mercury)congrats.to all and keep up the good work scotland will respond to fair reporting,many thanks
Congratulations!
Good Luck.
I want to read the Caledonian Mercury. I assume you want me to read it. So can you make it easy? Let me read the entire article – not just the teaser – in my rss reader.
Its good to read a paper thats getting close to reporting all the facts, though it seems to be a wee bit anti one party, but not much, we will not complain about that, will we?