Browse content similar to 13/09/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight on Newsnight Scotland, an endangered beasts special. Once the | 0:00:08 | 0:00:12 | |
Scottish press was red in tooth and claw. Now it's a shadow of its | 0:00:12 | 0:00:16 | |
former self. One of the men who used to run part of it says it's in | 0:00:16 | 0:00:18 | |
terminal decline. But is he right? And, we're told the Scottish | 0:00:18 | 0:00:22 | |
wildcat could go the way of the dodo or the Tasmanian tiger within | 0:00:22 | 0:00:24 | |
months. Should we launch an immediate attempt to save it, or | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
let it rest in peace? Good evening. Once Scotland's newspaper industry | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
was vibrant and influential. Now with plummeting circulation and | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
severe cost-cutting, the question is how long it can survive in its | 0:00:34 | 0:00:39 | |
current form. As the debate around the referendum gets going, will our | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
newspapers be an important part of the national conversation as they | 0:00:41 | 0:00:50 | |
were in 1979 and 1997? Jamie McIvor reports. It was a world of scoops | 0:00:50 | 0:00:59 | |
and scandals. And, in Scotland, the newspaper industry was one of the | 0:00:59 | 0:01:06 | |
most fiercely competitive in the English-speaking world. Its readers | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
are were amongst the most keen. But the home-grown Scottish press has | 0:01:10 | 0:01:15 | |
been hit by a perfect storm. Advertising sales are in long-term | 0:01:15 | 0:01:23 | |
decline. Some readers have told to UK wait tables like the Daily Mail, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:28 | |
the Times and the Telegraph, others have given up on newspapers. I read | 0:01:28 | 0:01:37 | |
it all online. I just read it online. Since 2,000, sales of the | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
Daily Record have fallen by more than half. The Scotsman has seen | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
circulation fall by two-thirds. And the Herald can hardly take much | 0:01:45 | 0:01:51 | |
comfort. Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil was publisher of the | 0:01:51 | 0:01:56 | |
Scotsman for several years under its former owners. When we took | 0:01:56 | 0:02:00 | |
over this course win Group in the mid- 1990s Scottish newspapers was | 0:02:00 | 0:02:04 | |
Back's still very important. The Scotsman and the Herald had helped | 0:02:04 | 0:02:11 | |
circulations and were not in the decline. It was a struggle to keep | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
circulation up and invest in the papers and the marketing or them | 0:02:15 | 0:02:23 | |
but they were not in the knacker's yard. And, devolution was finally | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
becoming a role hit -- a reality. Some journalists believe that | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
devolution would not have happened without newspapers. The received | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
wisdom was that the new Scottish parliament could only help Scottish | 0:02:35 | 0:02:42 | |
newspapers. By 1997 with devolution, the press was still very important, | 0:02:42 | 0:02:47 | |
not as important as in 1979, but it would have been unwise for any | 0:02:47 | 0:02:53 | |
party to ignore the press. And there was no doubt they played a | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
very important part in the lead up to the referendum and indeed, to | 0:02:57 | 0:03:04 | |
the result of the referendum. how influential will the press be | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
in the independence referendum? Papers like the Scotsman and the | 0:03:07 | 0:03:12 | |
Herald could have an influence, but it is most likely that, if they | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
have any influence is because the politicians think they have got it. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:21 | |
Politicians are becoming aware of the fact that they do not have to | 0:03:21 | 0:03:26 | |
be as worried about newspapers as in the past. So, it is the fear of | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
those whose bid was that might have given them in flowers, rather than | 0:03:30 | 0:03:37 | |
reality. During the referendum, how much longer can use rivers like the | 0:03:37 | 0:03:41 | |
Herald and the Scotsman survive in their traditional form? Don't | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
forget, the real historical strength not of the Aberdeen and | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
then the newspapers but the Scotsman and they Herald is, we do | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
what all the London newspapers do, we just do Scotland as well and we | 0:03:53 | 0:03:59 | |
just do it as well, too, and now, the Revenue is coming in, and that | 0:03:59 | 0:04:05 | |
is impossible. They are in terminal decline and I cannot see any way | 0:04:05 | 0:04:11 | |
that it can be reversed. Scotland is not unique. Newspaper | 0:04:11 | 0:04:17 | |
sales have been falling across the developed world. Some newspapers in | 0:04:17 | 0:04:22 | |
United States are known only on the internet. But, generally, the sales | 0:04:22 | 0:04:28 | |
of UK-wide peoples have held up better than Scottish titles. The | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
Scottish edition of the Daily Mail sells more than the Herald and the | 0:04:32 | 0:04:37 | |
Scotsman put together. Can the industry of all, like the buildings | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
where the people's were ones printed? This famous Glasgow | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
building was at the centre of the Scottish newspaper rolled, for | 0:04:44 | 0:04:49 | |
decades. Even the design was inspired by the London headquarters | 0:04:49 | 0:04:54 | |
of the Daily Express. That is because, for 40 years, this was the | 0:04:54 | 0:04:59 | |
home of the Scottish Daily Express. Later, for many years, it was the | 0:04:59 | 0:05:08 | |
home of the Herald. Today, it is flats and offices. Can these be the | 0:05:08 | 0:05:15 | |
industry prove critics wrong and evolve? -- can the newspaper | 0:05:16 | 0:05:24 | |
industry, just like the bars that the journalists frequented. I'm | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
joined now by the newly appointed director of the Scottish Newspaper | 0:05:27 | 0:05:29 | |
Society, Jim Chisholm and by Professor Philip Schlesinger of | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
Glasgow University. Is Andrew Neil right? You cannot deny the figures. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:39 | |
There it is obviously decline of circulation and those you see, it | 0:05:39 | 0:05:44 | |
is happening all across Europe and the Western rock. But, newspapers | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
are evolving in their own right. Circulation is only a small pot of | 0:05:48 | 0:05:54 | |
the definition of the business. Audiences are stable in terms of | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
readership. Just yesterday figures come out for the first time which | 0:05:58 | 0:06:05 | |
showed that online, we have 40% as many readers as we have a in print. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:12 | |
Is this stable in terms of readership? Circulations have been | 0:06:12 | 0:06:20 | |
falling, readership has not been falling, as fast. They a share in | 0:06:20 | 0:06:25 | |
newspapers? Yes, I am reading fewer newspapers, that cannot be denied, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
but if you look at the online statistics were people are | 0:06:28 | 0:06:34 | |
transferring to digital, one-third of the market now is people reading | 0:06:34 | 0:06:39 | |
in the digital world, so the total audience for the past two years has | 0:06:39 | 0:06:46 | |
been rising. The problem they have his they do not make money off of | 0:06:46 | 0:06:51 | |
those. It might well be healthy that people or reading the Scotsman | 0:06:51 | 0:06:56 | |
and the Herald online, but other Scotsman and the Herald making any | 0:06:56 | 0:07:02 | |
money, surely not as much as people buying the newspaper. That is | 0:07:02 | 0:07:07 | |
absolutely true. That is the same the world over apart from people | 0:07:07 | 0:07:13 | |
like the New York Times. As the audiences grow, which they are, in | 0:07:13 | 0:07:19 | |
the advertising revenue will follow. But that has not happened online. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
People have been saying what people -- what you have just said for 10 | 0:07:23 | 0:07:28 | |
or 12 years and it does not happen. Yes, for a number of reasons, many | 0:07:28 | 0:07:33 | |
of them social. It is not just newspapers that allow a in pickling, | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
broadcast news is declining just as fast and audiences are moving at | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
the same rate. As we gather critical mass, the revenues are | 0:07:41 | 0:07:46 | |
coming in and they would dispute the suggestion we're losing money. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:53 | |
They are not making vast amounts. In general they are breaking even. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:59 | |
Do you agree with Andrew Neil? Terminal is pretty different, I | 0:07:59 | 0:08:04 | |
think. I think the press will be important up to the next referendum, | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
no question about that, I will continue to be important, | 0:08:08 | 0:08:14 | |
thereafter. The form of journalism is changing and the migration to | 0:08:14 | 0:08:20 | |
digital is changing what we think of as journalism. The Scottish | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
newspapers can envisage a way of selling themselves which is high- | 0:08:24 | 0:08:28 | |
quality journalism, whatever the form of distribution, then they | 0:08:28 | 0:08:36 | |
have got a future. That is the big challenge. The trouble with high- | 0:08:36 | 0:08:42 | |
quality journalism is that it is expensive. The picture is one of | 0:08:42 | 0:08:47 | |
this investment and it is understandable that it is counter- | 0:08:47 | 0:08:53 | |
productive. It is undermining the chances of creating a formidable | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
presence in the case of the quality press. One thing that has intrigued | 0:08:57 | 0:09:05 | |
me about that report, people have not just the indigenous Scottish | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
newspaper circulations going down, more people are drifting away from | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
those, two things like the Daily Mail, the Guardian and the Times, | 0:09:13 | 0:09:17 | |
there is slightly surprising as a trend, says the Scottish roll-up | 0:09:17 | 0:09:22 | |
has been created. Of these newspapers covering Scotland are | 0:09:22 | 0:09:27 | |
better, or are people not as interested in the constitutional | 0:09:27 | 0:09:32 | |
stuff as maybe they should be? Maybe there is some sort of | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
substitution going on. They are certainly not covering Scotland | 0:09:36 | 0:09:41 | |
better, there is no question they are. They have a more attractive | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
journalistic proposition. The news values and the quality of the | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
journalism is better and that is why people are my gritting there. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:56 | |
That is a problem, isn't it? -- migrating. Even though the work | 0:09:56 | 0:10:03 | |
should be able to cover Affairs in Scotland, it implies people are | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
interested in the Affairs of Scotland but not too extent of | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
buying a newspaper that will enable better journalism there. Three | 0:10:10 | 0:10:15 | |
points in that discussion. The English press has a strong presence, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:20 | |
about one-third of the daily market, more a function of the fact that | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
they were not there before and they are, now. That is because they have | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
been able to enter the market, discounting heavily to get into the | 0:10:28 | 0:10:32 | |
market. They have got strong newsrooms in Scotland and can do | 0:10:32 | 0:10:39 | |
Scottish editions. It is like the evolution of radio displaced media | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
before that. Television displaced radio, the Internet is displacing, | 0:10:44 | 0:10:49 | |
this is an evolution of media consumption and when newspapers | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
appear that were not there before, they are going to take some of the | 0:10:54 | 0:11:01 | |
market if they can deliver the service. Where I would dispute that | 0:11:01 | 0:11:06 | |
is, first of all, you have to differentiate the world "quality". | 0:11:06 | 0:11:10 | |
There is a difference in quality newspapers which is a badge that we | 0:11:10 | 0:11:15 | |
put on the posh papers, and quality journalism. Underrating that it is | 0:11:15 | 0:11:21 | |
very interesting -- and they think that it is very interesting that | 0:11:21 | 0:11:26 | |
the Sun and the Daily Record are "tabloid" newspapers does not mean | 0:11:26 | 0:11:33 | |
the quality of the writing in those newspapers is poorer. That was a | 0:11:34 | 0:11:39 | |
very pure insinuation that was me that is just not the case. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:44 | |
other point that I would make is that, because there has been, and | 0:11:44 | 0:11:53 | |
so, no doubt about it, -- down so, no doubt about it... I take the | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
point that there is good writing in the tabloids, but their | 0:11:56 | 0:12:04 | |
circulations have been falling, as well. Yes, you have to | 0:12:04 | 0:12:11 | |
differentiate that the writing in them is not any worse. The key | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
point in what we have called the quality press historically is the | 0:12:14 | 0:12:20 | |
range of what they, and the debt with which they cover it. Scottish | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
affairs during the previous referendum, for example, that has | 0:12:23 | 0:12:29 | |
been a key part of discussion within Scottish Society and the | 0:12:29 | 0:12:37 | |
You think the papers set an agenda in the way they did in the period | 0:12:37 | 0:12:43 | |
leading up to 1997 or 1979? I don't think they are at the present time. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:49 | |
I think we are in a kind of a strange quite confusing situation | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
about precisely what the terms of the referendum are going to be and | 0:12:53 | 0:12:57 | |
precisely what the nature of the debate is going to be. We also | 0:12:57 | 0:13:02 | |
haven't got clear-cut campaigning on both sides at the present time. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
Ock, but you would presumably agree they have to up their game if they | 0:13:06 | 0:13:12 | |
are to have a future? I don't think it is so much they have to up their | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
game My opinion the cuts that have taken place are cuts that should | 0:13:15 | 0:13:19 | |
have taken place. You commented that quality newspapers are more | 0:13:19 | 0:13:24 | |
expensive to produce, but the reality is when you examine what | 0:13:24 | 0:13:29 | |
people read, more upmarket readers have less time to read, so they | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
leave less. The fact that papers are producing less content is more | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
in line with the lifestyle of the people reading them. That's a fact. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
Therefore if we are seeing less content that isn't necessarily a | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
bad thing as long as we are seeing good content. We have a wide range | 0:13:45 | 0:13:51 | |
of quality writers across the board. That includes the weekly papers, | 0:13:51 | 0:13:59 | |
The Courier, and others. When you analyse the in-depth-quality | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
writing that people want and they have the time to read, newspapers | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
are holding up very well. Thank you both very much indeed. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
It's not quite up there with the Monarch of the Glen as a symbol of | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
the Scottish spirit, but Scotland has nonetheless always taken a | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
certain pride in the uniqueness of the Highland wildcat. Now, it seems, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:23 | |
the creature might be more unique than anybody thought. The wildcat | 0:14:23 | 0:14:32 | |
finds itself an exotic, distinguished but unwanted confirm | 0:14:32 | 0:14:40 | |
company like this chameleon from Madagascar, the Sumatran rhino, and | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
this Vietnam pheasant, which hasn't been sighted for 12 years. Bigger, | 0:14:44 | 0:14:50 | |
stronger and more aggressive than a domestic cat, the highland wildcat | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
has been on the cusp of extinction for years, due in large part to | 0:14:55 | 0:15:00 | |
disease and its awilt to breed easily with domestic or federal | 0:15:00 | 0:15:05 | |
cats, creating a hybrid. Last month Scottish Natural Heritage gloomily | 0:15:05 | 0:15:10 | |
reported there were only about 400 of the animals across the entire | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
Highlands. The sparsity of the population makes it difficult to | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
make an accurate study of them. Experts for example can't even say | 0:15:18 | 0:15:23 | |
for sure whether this footage captured by the BBC's Autumn Watch | 0:15:23 | 0:15:28 | |
captured by the BBC's Autumn Watch programme is of a true wildcat. But | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
recent installations of photo traps have yielded some impressive | 0:15:31 | 0:15:39 | |
results. Now, though, the Scottish Wildcat | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
Association says there could be as few as 35 wildcats left. Their | 0:15:43 | 0:15:48 | |
verdict: The animal will be extinct within months. Anything else is | 0:15:48 | 0:15:55 | |
blind hope. But could there been an unrecorded population of the | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
creatures living in remote Caithness and Sutherland. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:04 | |
Conservationists hope so and they want to improve DNA techniques, so | 0:16:04 | 0:16:09 | |
they can have a more accurate measure of what's or isn't a | 0:16:09 | 0:16:16 | |
wildcat. If this cat survives, it is likely to be by a whisker, or it | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
will disappear like this poor thing. will disappear like this poor thing. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
I'm joined now from Edinburgh by Dr Andrew Kitchener, principal curator | 0:16:20 | 0:16:26 | |
of mammals at the National Museums of Scotland and a wildcat expert. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
What's your best guess as to how many of these animals are still | 0:16:30 | 0:16:38 | |
around? We don't really know and we really need to do some robust | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
scientifically based population experts. My Bess guess is there are | 0:16:41 | 0:16:50 | |
hundreds, not tense, but we need to research to find out. So you would | 0:16:50 | 0:16:58 | |
rather piano-piano this, that they -- poo-poo this, that they will be | 0:16:58 | 0:17:03 | |
gone within months. Everyone is just really guessing. What would we | 0:17:03 | 0:17:07 | |
have to do should we decide it was vitally important these things do | 0:17:07 | 0:17:12 | |
not die out? We need to have a comprehensive, fully costed | 0:17:12 | 0:17:16 | |
conservation action plan. We can't pussyfoot around. We've got to be | 0:17:17 | 0:17:22 | |
bold and brave. I take it when you said "pussyfoot" you were trying to | 0:17:22 | 0:17:28 | |
make a joke? Maybe. But it is a serious business after all. The | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
Scottish Wildcat is entering the last chance saloon, but there is | 0:17:32 | 0:17:38 | |
still time to do something about it. We must do the right thing. It is | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
an odd thing with wildcats, there are some animals like pandas that | 0:17:42 | 0:17:48 | |
seem to have evolved in such a way that it is easy for them to die out. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
But the analogy with wildcats is because they are keen on breeding | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
with the local moggies that's the problem isn't? It is not that | 0:17:55 | 0:18:02 | |
people are hunting them. But they themselves are breeding themselves | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
into hybridity? That is a problem, probably going on for a century or | 0:18:06 | 0:18:13 | |
more. The problem is the wildcat nearly became extinct in the 20th | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
century. Then the persecution pressure was released and they | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
started to recolonise. The meals found themselves in areas where | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
there weren't any female wildcats and they only had the local | 0:18:23 | 0:18:29 | |
domestic cats to turn to. Does it really matter? As I understand it | 0:18:29 | 0:18:34 | |
that was a false thing I said, because they are not like a dodo, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:40 | |
they are not a species, just a Scottish population of wildcats | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
which aren't actually globally even endangered? I think the wildcat in | 0:18:44 | 0:18:49 | |
Europe is endangered. Wildcats are not just souped up domestic cats. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:53 | |
They have a distinct fossil history that goes back 2 million years. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:58 | |
accept that, I'm not saying they are not different from domestic | 0:18:58 | 0:19:03 | |
cats, but the Scottish wildcats are simply a Scottish population of the | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
European wildcat, so it is not a separate species. There are | 0:19:06 | 0:19:11 | |
thousands of these things across Europe. There may well be but all | 0:19:11 | 0:19:16 | |
populations in Europe are under pressure and all are suffer trg | 0:19:16 | 0:19:21 | |
this problem of hybrid isation. We can't assume just if we lose our | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
wildcat we can import some from somewhere else they will be OK, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:30 | |
because they are not doing well in Europe too. I'm not sure how you | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
stop them breeding with the local moggies. Is it even possible? | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
we need to do more research to understand the environmental and | 0:19:37 | 0:19:43 | |
the social conditions under which hybridisation curse. It doesn't | 0:19:43 | 0:19:48 | |
occur everywhere in Europe equally Some population it is a real | 0:19:49 | 0:19:54 | |
problem but in others it isn't. just because British people like | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
keeping domestic cats more than other people do? No, I think it is | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
this special set of circumstances where the wildcat was recolonising | 0:20:02 | 0:20:08 | |
vast areas of Scotland after the First World War. We have similar | 0:20:08 | 0:20:12 | |
situations that have occurred elsewhere in Europe. Where the | 0:20:12 | 0:20:17 | |
populations tend to be stable, there's been no persecution | 0:20:17 | 0:20:22 | |
pressure, the level of hybridisation does seem to be much | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
less. Thank you very much indeed. Tomorrow's front pages. The | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
Scotsman, almost half of care hold elderly are kept sedated for | 0:20:30 | 0:20:35 |