THE National’s Callum Baird has been named Newsquest Editor of the Year for 2018, after a 12 months which saw the title go from strength to strength.
Scotland’s only pro-indy newspaper now has more than 5000 digital subscribers (a total which is growing by more than 100 every month), and website traffic is 60% up on last year.
A Facebook post by The National is more likely to be interacted with by a post from any other news media outlet in Scotland – including the BBC.
At the same time, The National continues to retain the vast majority of its print audience, and also added a fantastic new Sunday edition in September.
Newsquest CEO Henry Faure Walker hailed The National as “a phenomenal success story”, saying “Callum and his innovative team have excelled in building audiences across all platforms”.
Newsquest UK has more than 165 news brands and more than 40 magazines.
Callum said: “This award is really about the incredibly talented team of journalists who put together the paper every day.
I couldn’t ask for a better and more committed group of people to work with.
“I’m now more convinced than ever that The National will be a powerful force for decades to come in the Scottish media.
“When the next referendum comes we will play a vital role in countering the inevitable ‘Project Fear II’. And the more support we have from the Yes movement, the bigger the impact we’ll be able to have.
“Now is not the time to get complacent – we’ll only be in the shops as long as our brilliant readers keep supporting us.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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