Vital role of newspapers underlined at Charles Kennedy Lecture

The important role played by the newspaper industry in Scotland was lauded by Lochaber councillor and entrepreneur, Angus MacDonald, when he introduced this year's guest speaker for the Charles Kennedy Lecture.

 

The event in memory of the late Mr Kennedy, the former Liberal Democrat leader and long-serving Lochaber MP was held last Tuesday night in Fort William, and is always a highlight of the annual Lochaber Ideas Week programme with tickets much sought after.

 

Previous speakers have included such political heavyweights as former Labour spin doctor for Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell, and ex-Lib Dems leader, Lord Steel of Aikwood - the former Scottish Borders MP, Sir David Steel.

 

This year it was the turn of Brian Taylor, the former political editor for BBC Scotland and now a columnist for Scottish broadsheet newspaper, The Herald.

 

Introducing Mr Taylor, Mr MacDonald, who himself previously owned a newspaper, described him as being, along with Magnus Linklater, one of the two most distinguished commentators on Scottish political matters.

 

Mr MacDonald told the assembled audience in the Nevis Centre that he would not need to remind them that over the past two decades the Scottish press had 'shrivelled' to a fraction of its former self.

 

Even Mr Taylor's current employer, The Herald, had see its stable of journalists shrink, said Mr MacDonald, from more than 200 back in 2009 to less than 25 per cent of that today.

 

'Readers of newspapers are a sliver of what they were and most people get their news from BBC Online - which is something - but, worryingly, a lot more get it from Twitter and other social media which publishes, in my opinion, unverified twiddle at its best,' added Mr MacDonald.

 

'And I know elected politicians who don't read any newspapers at all.'

 

Mr MacDonald said his experiences of running a newspaper for a decade made the subject of the press one 'dear to his heart'.

 

And Mr MacDonald, who was responsible for the construction of Fort William's Highland Cinema and the opening of the town's The Highland Bookshop, revealed: 'I owe an enormous amount to newspapers.

 

'Almost every single investment idea I have ever had has come from reading an article in a newspaper about a new product or about a company that was available for me to invest in.

 

'Even the idea of The Highland Bookshop and the cinema came about from reading an article. I read in Vanity Fair how a town centre cinema and bookshop transformed a market town.

 

'When I speak at schools or universities, I tell them that if they want real success they should read a newspaper. Because if you are not as informed as the other people in your peer group, then you are at a severe disadvantage.

 

'Over the years I've often flung a newspaper at a youth in an interview and said 'read it for an hour and come back to me with a business idea'. There is a good business idea in every single broadsheet.'

 

Mr MacDonald then touched on his concerns that, with young people able to vote in Scotland on reaching the age of 16, they were forming their opinions without consulting reliable news sources.

 

'In Scotland we have voters at 16 - where are they getting their opinions from to make a balanced judgement on who to vote for? And who is holding the authorities to account if it isn't Brian and the press?

 

'Thalidomide was exposed by the Sunday Times,' said Mr MacDonald, referring to the now banned pregnancy drug that was blamed for thousands of children born with limb deformities after their mothers took the drug for morning sickness while pregnant.

 

Mr MacDonald continued: 'Massive pay awards are written about to shame greedy executives. And Brian Taylor's publication, The Herald, has done an extraordinary job of tracking the CalMac disaster - a £40million cost to the Scottish taxpayer - the Rangers lawsuit, and informing us of the many things Scottish ministers' enormous PR teams do to stop us hearing about it.

 

'We need a very strong Scottish press and are incredibly lucky we have a bastion of it here tonight.'

 

See page 9 of next week's Lochaber Times for full report of Brian Taylor's address.