How Scottish Beacon members are collaborating on and offline
Sometimes, the simplest tools are the best
When we set up the Scottish Beacon, one of the first things our members suggested was a space for us all to share thoughts and ideas and to ask for feedback from each other. So we got to work setting up what has become a staple of newsrooms and journalism projects everywhere in recent years – a WhatsApp group.
While I’m sure we can all agree some WhatsApp groups can be more useful and interesting than others, we’re pleased that the Scottish Beacon group has proven so helpful and active already. This month, following the sudden closure of schools around the country due to dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), our members used the space to share data on affected buildings from their local areas in order to enhance their reporting. It was great to see everyone pitching in to share their own findings and connect the dots between the local and national stories – a real-time example of how collaboration between journalists embedded in their communities can strengthen local coverage everywhere and even generate original news lines.
So whatever you think of WhatsApp groups about birthday parties or wedding celebrations, I think it’s clear ours offer something different and valuable – a quick and convenient space to continue the collaborative work we’re all doing offline and in real life every day. Sometimes, the simplest tools can be the most useful and lead to a big impact. And, of course, we’re not averse to a bit of blethering either!
Latest News on our website…
Liquidator investigating assets transfer of Edinburgh company - The Edinburgh Reporter
SaxaVord in a good position, but ‘space is hard’, warns agency boss - Shetland News
Penny Chivas, Dance Artist and activist in BURNT OUT - The Orkney News
Edinburgh: Liquidator appointed at failed Bross Bagels business - The Edinburgh Reporter
Slight Growth in Scotland’s Social Service Workforce - The Orkney News
Shetland Islands Council wants more community benefits in the form of cheaper energy prices - Shetland News
Tell us what you want from The Scottish Beacon
What do you find frustrating in the current Scottish news landscape? What can we do better? How do you find out what’s happening where you are? What type of stories do you want to read?
It would help us hugely if you could take two minutes to tell us!
News from Scottish Beacon Partners
A joint investigation by Scottish Beacon partners The Edinburgh Reporter and The Edinburgh Guardian found that Bross Bagels, a sandwich chain in Edinburgh, went into liquidation with debts of more than half a million pounds.
Issue 25 of Clydesider Magazine is out. You can pick up your FREE copy in over 200 local shops, cafes, pubs, community/leisure centres & libraries across West Dunbartonshire or read online here: https://clydesider.org/publications/
Read the interview with The Edinburgh Guardian founder Marc Macleod at “The Grow” series on Substack about his experience quitting his day job to focus on local news for the civic good.
The Greater Govanhill newsletter is out! Check what’s going on in Scotland's most diverse neighbourhood.
Tomorrow (Friday), we will hold our regular meeting. We are looking forward to hearing from Scottish Beacon partners about what they are doing and discussing our next collaborative efforts. Stay tuned as we will share more news soon!
Meet our partners…
In each newsletter, we’ll introduce you to one of our partners. Next up, it’s Alan McIntosh - Editor of Broughton Spurtle
Tell us about your publication.
The Broughton Spurtle is a hyperlocal paper covering just over a square mile of north-east central Edinburgh. In a monthly 4-page print issue, with separate news and features online, we cover political, planning, transport, environmental, cultural and historical issues in granular detail, often with a side salad of snark. The aim is to inform, entertain and encourage readers to be active and effective citizens. As the name suggests, we also try to ‘stir things up a bit’, hopefully without lawyers adhering to us. We have no party-political or religious affiliations. We’re ‘staffed’ by around ten unpaid volunteers, and in an average month, receive input (articles, photos, tip-offs and news ideas) from a dozen or so contributors, most of whom live locally. We fund our activities through advertising, subscriptions, and out-of-the-blue donations from well-wishers.
How/when/why did you get involved?
The Spurtle started in February 1994, emerging from local connections forged during the anti-Poll Tax campaign and a separate struggle to retain a local primary school. I joined in 1995, shortly after moving to Broughton from the other side of town. I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t get involved for too long or too deeply as I had plenty of other creative or journalistic fish to fry. That didn’t work. The more I got embedded in the neighbourhood, the more the Spurtle seemed like a good way to affect subjects which mattered to me and my immediate neighbours.
What does your average day look like when working for the publication?
The most effective way to gather local news is by walking the streets and talking to people. It helps if you’re nosey and not afraid to talk to strangers. I walk for an hour or so most days and will then find other potential stories by rummaging through the Council website, lurking in the shadows of social media, and investigating the life and times of people who’ve lived in these familiar places over the last 300 years.
Tell us about something you are proud of - whether it be a particular story you broke or an impact you had on an issue.
We’ve broken numerous exclusive stories since 1994, most of which have been borrowed without credit by the mainstream media in Edinburgh and further afield. Spurtle has been particularly strong on Planning issues over the years. It has helped shape the debate about the commercial use of public space in the city centre, preserving our built heritage without turning it into a museum and retaining the capital as a functioning and affordable location for full-time residents. All those struggles continue, but I’m proud that the Spurtle has consistently got stuck in.
How does the existence of your publication benefit the community you serve?
In general, though, I’m proudest about how the paper, alongside well-run local community councils, has helped make this part of Edinburgh unusually self-aware and good at standing up for itself. The fact that our news-gathering and distribution areas straddle multiple political constituencies at every level has helped with this and helped the Spurtle sometimes to be disproportionately influential on important questions.
What made you want to join the Scottish Beacon?
We wanted to join the Scottish Beacon because we can learn from other independent journalists’ experiences and can contribute ours in return. Mainstream local news is in decline; independent local news will expand to fill the void, and we want to be an active and helpful partner in that process. There’s also the small matter of broadening our horizons: we want to know and understand what’s happening outside our particular square mile – how we’re different, how we’re the same.
Why does independent, community-based local news matter?
Independent community-based news can explain and energise, hold power to account, and amplify the extraordinary voices, achievements and aspirations of people who generally don’t get heard elsewhere. I think the Scottish Beacon has enormous potential for improving how people live, live within politics, and live fairly and peacefully with each other.
Elsewhere in local news…
The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is coming to Glasgow on 21st October for a day of free talks and workshops in partnership with the National Library of Scotland. Find out more here.
The influence and involvement of big tech and social media companies in news provision is always a topic of much debate for us and our partners. Last week, Meta announced the end of its Community News Project and its intention to shut down its Facebook News tab in the UK, France and Germany. This article from Press Gazette looks at some of the responses to and implications of the decision.
For 40 years, the Reuters Institute has run a fellowship programme allowing journalists the time to explore journalism itself in-depth. Last week, it celebrated the anniversary with a weekend full of talks and discussions about the future of news. You can read a summary of the key issues explored and watch the sessions back here.