They said all the right things

Monday 4 March 2013

The future of printed media was debated at the University of Glasgow this evening with alumni Andrew Neil chairing the distinguished panel. They comprised: Allan Rennie, editor-in-chief of Media Scotland, publishers of the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail; Bobby Hain, director of channels for STV; Kirsten Morrison, Head of Digital (Newspaper) at DC Thomson and Professor Philip Schlesinger from the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow.

As circulation figures for most print editions of newspapers continue to tumble, the panel considered the impact of digitalisation on traditional media and on the wider business community.

Said journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil who claimed that when he was a student at Glasgow University he was never allowed to enter Bute Hall where the debate took place: ‘More people are reading newspapers and magazines than ever before – just not as printed products. The challenge is to develop new revenue streams around the new digital delivery. Some of the dead-tree press will succeed, some won’t. The failures will die. But the digital market is already being flooded with new entrants. So it is a time for optimism.’

The panel agreed with his stance. Allan Rennie said that as the recession bit in Scotland, more people were using the new media as part of their lifestyle. He said the Sunday Mail, a Media Scotland flagship title, had 3.2 million users on its site.

Bobby Hain considered television was better placed to deliver digital media with a headstart in ‘moving pictures.’ He also mentioned that the digital mediums allowed ‘people to give you stuff without you having to make it yourself!’ Proud of STV’s output of 20 different local news sites and tv channels projected for Glasgow and Edinburgh next year, he said the digital mindset had to be worked at by those who just looked at ‘the box in the corner of the room.’

Kirsten Morrison admitted she was ‘unusual’ because she’d returned to DCThomson and its digital set up after years working on ‘red top’ newspapers. ‘There is a cultural shift and we have to utilise the online content to make money,’ she said. The company’s famous Beano comic is now available only online.

Professor Schlesinger studies how people use digital content and calibrates the findings. He emphasised the importance of a ‘range of voices’ and ‘solid, high-end journalism.’

Opened and closed by University Principal, Anton Muscatelli, the debate was attended by several hundred people and many questions were asked. But there were no fireworks or simple answers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Move into motoring

 This is a new column about motoring today. New vehicles, technological refinements and how to conserve resources are all incorporated by established Motoring Correspondent BRUCE BOOTH.

By: Bruce Booth
 
WE’RE all familiar with gimmicks in advertising campaigns for anything
ranging from breakfast cereal to washing powder.
Who can forget the ads from that High Street store which doesn’t stock ordinary food, but sells only M&S food that is  a little bit extra bit special?
Or how about more recently times? Those bright sparks from Carlsberg
have tried to convince us that if the Danish beer company were to make anything other than lager, no matter what the product was, it would be the very best you could possibly buy.
Well, don’t be surprised if you see a new advert from the famous Land Rover brand which combines both those themes.
For the new offering now rolling off the marque’s Halewood production line in Liverpool is not just an Evoque, it’s a Range Rover Evoque. And if Carlsberg were to make motor vehicles, then I reckon this is what they would produce.
For the Evoque really is that bit special.
Ok, it’s not going to compete against the likes of the Bentley, Rolls-Royce,
Ferrari or Bugatti supercars of this world; it’s not meant to. But with a
starting price of less than £30,000, anything that hovers a few grand either side of this figure is going to be fair game.
And little wonder. For the new Evoque is Range Rover at its very best.
Stunning exterior design, whether in three or five-door guise … and that’s just for starters. Yes, the three-door version does have the edge in the looks department, but the five-door comes with more practicality and ease of access to the rear … and it’s cheaper!
Then there’s the build quality. You can’t fault this baby in any way,
while the interior design team have also done a fabulous job, mixing lashings of soft leather hides with items such as brushed aluminium, polished wood veneers and proper plastics that will undoubtedly last the test of time.
Yet no two cars have to be the same, for buyers can choose from a huge
range of interior designs while mixing and matching with no fewer than 12 paint colour choices along with three contrasting roof colours or even a full panoramic glass roof. It will even park itself for you perfectly every time should you add the park assist option. Other upgrades are available for the digital audio/DVD system, while a range of optional alloy wheels help complete the package.
However, what makes the Evoque stand out from the crowd is its ability
to master just about any kind of driving condition you can throw at it.
We all know how the evergreen Land Rover Defender has evolved over its
60-year production run and what its capabilities are. Well the same technology can be found in the Evoque, which means that it is a serious off-roader in its own right … should you ever wish to put this hunk of gleaming metal to the test.  And that’s just what I did when I got the chance to put a diesel version of the Evoque through its paces over some heavily-rutted, boulder-strewn mountain tracks and through deep fast-flowing streams as I snaked along in the shadow of a massive pipeline which cuts across some pretty remote moorland.
And boy, did this machine perform. A row of buttons allows the driver
to choose the perfect set-up from Land Rover’s brilliant terrain response drive system to match the prevailing conditions, whether it be slippy surfaces such as ice and snow, sand, deep muddy ruts, boulder fields or steep grassy pastures.
Electronic descent control also helps the machine crawl slowly down steep terrain without any other input required from the driver apart from steering the car in the right direction.
And great as it is offroad, its onroad abilities match equally. For a
heavy machine it holds the road brilliantly while its ride quality
replicates that of many a saloon car. The electronics can also be set to dynamic mode which turns the baby Range Rover into something of a boy racer’s dream machine.
With a pair of 2.2-litre powerplants pumping out either 148 or 197bhp, the all-wheel-drive Evoque offers more than enough power to comfortably keep up with the flow, even the less powerful engine posting a top speed of 115mph and a zero to 62mph sprint time of 10.8 seconds.
But it’s the 50mpg fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of 149g/km that will concentrate the minds of most buyers, for these figures compare well with the likes of the Audi Q3 and BMW X1.
A workaholic offroader, luxurious hatchback or sprightly sports car, the
three-in-one Evoque is a true master of disguise. And with its
highly-competitive price tag there is no doubt that Range Rover dealers are going to be kept very busy for a long time to come.
 
Range Rover Evoque TD4 Pure 5dr
Price: £28,705
Mechanical: 150bhp, 2,198cc, 4cyl diesel engine driving four wheels via
6-speed
manual gearbox
Max speed: 115mph
0-62mph: 10.8 seconds
Combined mpg: 50.2
Insurance group: 33
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
BIK rating: 15%
Warranty: 3yrs/ unlimited miles
 
To view the FreewheelingScotland.com Range Rover Evoque e-magazine, log on to:

http://issuu.com/freewheelingscotland.com/docs/rangeroverevoque

Fergie’s gone but not forgotten

Fergie Millar, a tough news editor on the Daily Record for almost 30 years in its halcyon days, will be remembered on Thursday 28 July in Glasgow at his favourite football ground – Firhill.  He died in May, aged 83. He left instructions for an ‘informal, not sombre’ gathering to be held and had even written a speech to be read out by one of his long-standing friends.

Famous East End photographer Tom Fitzpatrick dies aged 76

Tom Fitzpatrick
Press photographer
Born April 5, 1934
Died November 24, 2010

Proud Garngad man, Tom Fitzpatrick, who died aged 76, was an intrepid press photographer during Scotland’s golden age of journalism in the 1960s and 70s. Then the country’s leading newspapers sold in excess of 700,000 copies a day and competition for exclusive stories and pictures was at its fiercest. The Scottish Daily Express and the Daily Record, both edited and printed in Glasgow, battled headline to headline and picture to picture for the coveted title of Scotland’s best-selling popular newspaper. Photographers, like Tom, fought for the “scoops” that would propel their title to the top of the circulation league table.
Working for the Express, Tom twice won the title Press Photographer of the Year and also Sports Photographer of the Year in the Scottish Press Awards.
Born at 487 Garngad Road, his house is still standing despite major redevelopment around it.
He was the youngest of three sons and attended St Philomena’s primary school where he excelled academically before going on to St Mungo’s Academy. He was also an altar boy at nearby St Roch’s Church in Garngad.
Aged 15, he started as a lift boy in the Daily Express building in 1949. He moved on to be a copy boy in the darkroom before becoming a photographer with the Daily Express and Evening Citizen.
A Requiem Mass was celebrated by Monsignor Noel Woods, in St Joseph’s Church, Tollcross, Glasgow, when Tom’s son, Robert, gave the eulogy.
He said: ‘Few of the journalists of that era could be accused of soft-heartedness or sentimentality. They made their name by sheer hard work.’
Reporters who worked with Fitzpatrick included big by-line people such as Stuart McCartney, David Scott, William Allsop and Andrew McCallum.
Fellow photographers included Ronnie Burgess, Ray Beltrami, Jack Middleton, Harry Turner and, occasionally, Fleet Street stars like Reg Lancaster, father of singer Rod Stewart’s glamorous wife, Penny, who flew up from London on royal visits.
Another good friend was the New York-based celebrity photographer Harry Benson who originated from Gorbals.
While hard news stories were the lifeblood of the Express, Fitzpatrick’s greatest love was photographing football matches.
An avid Celtic supporter, he always covered the Parkhead club’s matches, including all their European games. He was entrusted with the opposition’s banner by Celtic captain Billy McNeill to take back to manager Jock Stein in the dugout. Fitzpatrick was hugely proud to have been behind the goals in Lisbon, taking photographs, when Celtic won the European Cup in 1967.
After national service with the RAF in Germany between 1952 and 1954, he returned to the Express until the Beaverbrook operation was shut down in 1974 making 1,800 journalists, photographers, engineers and print workers, redundant.
Following this calamity, Fitzpatrick invested a great deal of time, effort and money in the ill-fated Scottish Daily News workers’ co-operative, in the Albion Street printing plant. When that failed, he freelanced before joining the Evening Times’ picture desk where he worked with distinction until his retirement.
He met his wife, Elizabeth, at the dancing and they married in 1957. When Tom died following a short illness, they had been together for nearly 60 years and had had four children; Thomas, Robert, Lisa and Mark and had 16 grandchildren.

Because of snow storms, grid-locked roads and abandoned rail services, many of Tom Fitzpatrick’s colleagues could not attend his funeral so a gathering will be held to raise a glass in his memory at the Press Bar in Albion Street, Glasgow, on Friday, December 10, at 1.30pm. All former colleagues are welcome to attend.
BILL HEANEY

Glasgow Schools scoop Education Awards

by Lynsay Keough

The achievements of local schools were rewarded at the 2010 Scottish Education Awards, held at the City Halls recently. The awards were established in 2001, by the Scottish Government and the Daily Record, to celebrate the hard work and dedication of those who are involved in all areas of Scottish Education. Entry is open to all publicly funded schools, with awards in a wide variety of categories that are linked to the Curriculum for Excellence Programme.
The winners for 2010 were:

Health and Wellbeing Award: which recognises a holistic approach to education, Hillside School.

Global Citizenship Award: looking at the school in a wider context, St Stephen’s Primary.

Getting Scotland Active: participation in sport and other physical pursuits, Perth Grammar School

Learning through Technological Awareness: for the use of technology to support learning,
Mid Calder Primary School

Literacy and Numeracy Across Learning Award: effective approach to the development of literacy and numeracy, Brucehill Early Education and Childcare Centre.

Enterprise and Employability Across Learning Award (Primary): St. Joeseph’s Primary School

Enterprise and Employability Across Learning Award (Secondary): Bishopbriggs Academy

Entrepreneurial Learning Award: development of entrepreneurial skills, Grange Academy

Aiming High Award: breaking down barriers with a sustained approach, Wellshot Primary.

Sustainable Schools Award: for developing Environmental awareness, Lawthorn Primary

Educational Supporter of the Year: supporting children in the wider community, Alan Stern, Eaglesham Primary and Nursery

Probationary Teacher of the Year: Lois Lurinsky, Dalmarnock Primary School

Teacher of the Year: Michelle Prvulovic, Strathallan Primary

Headteacher of the Year: Anne McFadden, St. Mirins Primary

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mary Lee, The Royal Blind School