THE National has celebrated its fifth anniversary with a karaoke party.
The paper’s journalists and columnists attended the event at Hummingbird in Glasgow on Thursday night.
The Christmas-themed celebration included crackers, a fifth birthday cake of The National’s first front page and concluded with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
During the independence referendum, most pro-indy media was online and Scotland’s only daily pro-independence newspaper, was launched as an alternative after we failed to get the Yes vote we wanted.
But the independence movement has kept its momentum with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promising indyref2020 in front of a joyous crowd at The National’s rally in Glasgow’s George Square.
National editor Callum Baird thanked readers for their dedication to the paper since 2014.
He said: “It is a fantastic achievement to be celebrating our fifth birthday. As far as we know, we are the only paper in the UK that is growing in sales and we have our readers to thank for that.
“In the run up to indyref2 it is more important than ever to have pro-Yes voices among the Unionist media.”
In the coming weeks, only subscribers will be able to comment on The National articles. Subscribe now or log in to make sure you stay a part of the conversation.
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. What should we do with our second vote in 2021? What happens if Westminster says no to indyref2?
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 conversation, register under fake names, and post vile abuse. We’ve had hundreds of emails from you complaining about this, asking us to take steps to ensure that these people aren’t given a platform on our site.
We’re listening to you, and here’s how we plan to make that happen.
We have decided to make the ability to comment only available to our 10,000 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.
We’ll be monitoring this change over the first few weeks, and we’re keen to know your thoughts. Email us at letters@thenational.scot if you want to have your say.
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Last Updated:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
Report This Comment