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Newspaper sales in Scotland
Are the newspapers in Scotland in terminal decline? Far be it for me to suggest that it might be because their agenda is out of touch with the silent majority in this country.
Daily Record
780,000 - September 1994
625,000 - September 2000
440,000 - December 2005
The Sun (Scotland)
380,000 - September 1994
415,000 - September 2000
356,000 - December 2005
The Herald
116,000 - June 1993
95,000 - September 2000
75,000 - December 2005
Sunday Mail
780,000 - September 1994
741,000 - June 2000
538,000 - December 2005
Glasgow Evening Times
136,000 - March 1996
108,000 - March 2000
95,000 - January 2005
The rise of the Internet as an explanation is a powerful argument and cannot be entirely ignored. However, current affairs magazines and other newspapers do well nationally -
Private Eye
January 1995 - 184,000
October 2001 - 188,000
August 2005 - 210,000
The Economist
June 1996 - 105,000
November 2000 - 125,000
August 2005 - 155,000
The Spectator
July 1994 - 50,000
April 2000 - 60,000
December 2005 - 70,000
Nationally, the Daily Mail has risen from 1.8 million copies in the early 1990's to 2.4 million copies in 2006. The Daily Mail is often mocked, particularly by the Left, as a reactionary publisher of Middle England prejudices. But it perfectly reflects the views of its readership. It produces the 'yeah, that's right' response, i.e. someone reading Littlejohn or Heffer or one of the other articles in the Mail will mumble to themselves 'yeah, that's right'. How many times would a Scotsman do that with The Herald or Daily Record?
If Scottish newspapers were so convinced that the Internet was stealing their readership then a simple solution would be to introduce subscription-only websites. However, when The Herald tried this with its Monday morning sports coverage, it found so little takers that it quickly reverted back to free to view. The Scottish Sun is also unavailable on the web and the Evening Times does not go online until the following day.
I'm convinced that there is a silent majority in Scotland whose views are not served by the Scottish media in general - including the likes of the BBC - and this goes some way to explaining the apparent decline of these titles.
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I did that joke in Alabama, and these three rednecks met me after the show. "Mister Funnyman, c'mere. Hey buddy, we're Christians and we don't like what you said." I said, 'Then forgive me.' - Bill Hicks
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