The Scottish Media: Continuity, Change, Crisis

Abstract

There is a distinctive Scottish media in terms of newspapers and the newspaper market, along with a different ecology of broadcasting in TV and radio (Meech and Kilborn, 1992: Smith, 1994; Reid, 2006; Blain and Hutchison, 2008). This difference has played a central and indeed pivotal role in developing a Scottish articulation and representation of national identity, culture, public life and politics, contributing to and informing what many people see as the ‘idea’ of Scotland itself. Furthermore, the early 21st century has seen the paradox of a political and cultural notion of greater self-government, occurring at the same time as a crisis of most of the mainstream media and an emerging social media which has become more vocal and recognised, but which still lacks platforms, resources and audience.