Description
HARRY REID
October 2006 •224pp paperback
'Readers from the South, no less than from the North, will be fascinated by the media frenzy regarding the voting rights of Scottish MPs on purely English matters, which reverberates through British politics today. Reid's analysis will be a future quarry for those who wonder how on earth Scotland could be on the brink of divorce from the UK.' Tam Dalyell, The Oldie (\"Favourite books from last year\")
‘a superbly written, engaging and sometimes hilarious memoir of the profession.’ Rosemary Goring, The Herald
‘Reid’s account is fascinating, unashamedly nostalgic and full of mischief, madness and militancy’. Claire Smith, The Scotsman
‘Written with verve and spirit, this is a fascinating account of an important subject.’ Sunday Herald.
‘Deadline, Harry Reid’s history of the Scottish press, is not only an enlightening read on the subject but it’s a fund of hilarious anecdotes too.’ Book Worm, The Scotsman.
'A must-read for understanding the Scottish press – Harry Reid tells the story, warts and all, with panache, rare insight and authority.' Prof Tom Devine, University of Edinburgh
This is the companion book to the BBC Scotland series: six half-hour programmes about Scottish print journalism. The TV series starts on Tuesday 24 October, at 10:35pm on BBC One Scotland.
- How has the media treated the Christian churches and their message over the past 40 years?
- Have they contributed to the decline in membership?
- Have they been fair?
Read Deadline: the Story of the Scottish Press and make up your own mind.
The newspaper business is an adrenaline rush from start to finish. Scotland has its own media environment, a journalistic village where everyone knows each other and is engaged in an exuberant battle that has been raging for over half a century.
Deadline: A History of the Scottish Press covers the scoops, the rivalries, the larger-than-life characters, politics, religion, sport, and much much more. It reveals the story behind the stories.
EXTRACT
Tabloid reporters in particular had to develop a variety of crafty techniques to get people to talk ... Of course, mishaps, even disasters, could happen ... John McGurk remembers: 'It was a bit like being a salesman. You knock on the door of the local WRVS, the local old folk's club and local ministers. I went to this minister, and I was trying to get a story, and on his sideboard there's a picture of Ken Dodd, who was a pretty popular comedian at the time. To try and break the ice, I say: \"Ken Dodd, is that someone you know?\" And he looked at me and looked at the picture, looked back at me and said, \"That's a photograph of my wife\".
Harry Reid is the author of Outside Verdict, the bestselling book about the Church of Scotland. He holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow for his services to Scottish journalism and is a life vice-president of the journalists' charity, the Newspaper Press Fund.