Stewart Ward

6 days ago | thenational.scot | Stewart Ward

The BBC didn't just ignore the story ... it also managed to mislead in a separate piece "WHY has nobody else covered this already?” Every so often, a reporter in the National newsroom flagging up a story is met with that question. It’s usually something of such obvious news value that alarm bells start ringing. Has it been covered elsewhere and we’ve just missed it, maybe? Is there a legal issue – would we get ourselves in trouble by reporting this?

1 month ago | thenational.scot | Stewart Ward

Oban is not 'remote' to many National readers (Image: Getty) “CAN we interest you in a story about a remote pub in Oban?” So came the appeal from a comms officer down the phoneline to one of The National’s reporters. “I’m not sure our readers would appreciate Oban being called remote,” was the rather flat reply from our journo. As a Galloway boy (who loves living in Glasgow), I’ve used this very newsletter to bang on about issues around central belt bias in the media.

2 months ago | thenational.scot | Stewart Ward

SCOTTISH Labour sending out briefing notes to opposition politicians. A sweary Alex Cole-Hamilton tantrum. Murdo Fraser sharing The National’s front pages on Twitter. There there are some things in life we can count – and in my time at The National, the McCrone Report special edition has been one of these constants.

Jul 6, 2023 | thenational.scot | Stewart Ward

May 12, 2023 | thenational.scot | Stewart Ward