1. British journalists banned from entering Russia
Russia has banned 29 British journalists from entering the country, including editors at the BBC, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Guardian.

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs belligerently declared: 'The British journalists included in the list are involved in the deliberate dissemination of false and one-sided information about Russia and the events in Ukraine and Donbas. With their biased assessments, they also contribute to fueling Russophobia in British society'.

Banned are:
Shaun Walker, correspondent, The Guardian;
Con Coughlin, columnist, Daily Telegraph;
Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent, Sky News;
James Rothwell, Daily Telegraph;
John Witherow, editor-in-chief, The Times;
Chris Evans, editor-in-chief, Daily Telegraph;
Richard Sharp, chairman, BBC;
Tim Davie, director-general, BBC;
Kath Viner, editor-in-chief, The Guardian;
Clive Myrie, presenter/foreign correspondent, BBC;
Orla Guerin, foreign correspondent, BBC;
Nick Robinson, Today presenter, BBC;
Paul Adams, diplomatic correspondent, BBC;
Nick Beake, Europe correspondent, BBC;
Alex Thomson, chief correspondent, Channel 4 News;
Dan Rivers, correspondent, ITV News;
Peter Beaumont, reporter, The Guardian;
Emma Graham-Harrison, reporter, The Guardian;
Sophy Ridge, journalist/programme host, Sky News;
Cathy Newman, journalist/programme host, Channel 4 News;
Ted Verity, editor-in-chief, Daily Mail;
Christian Broughton, managing director, The Independent;
Larisa Brown, defence editor, The Times;
Mark Galeotti, freelance;
Joe Barnes, Brussels correspondent, Daily Telegraph;
Gideon Rachman, columnist, Financial Times;
Luke Harding, foreign correspondent, The Guardian;
Dominic Lawson, columnist, The Sunday Times /Daily Mail;
Lawrence Freedman, columnist, The Sunday Times.

2. Scotland features in awards at Celtic Media Festival
Scotland won in five categories in the Torc Awards for Excellence at this year's 43rd Celtic Media Festival in Quimper, Brittany, France.

The prestigious Spirit of the Festival award went to BBC ALBA's Afro-Gàidheil, an intimate portrayal of identity in which the viewer is taken on a journey by singer Cass Ezeji to meet Gaelic speakers of African heritage as she tries to find her place in a culture where she rarely sees herself represented.

The Torc Awards celebrate excellence in production across film, television, radio and digital media, from the Celtic nations and regions: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man, Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia. The annual three-day event brought together some of the biggest names and organisations in the media industry, and there was a special focus on S4C as it prepares to celebrate 40 years of Welsh language broadcasting.

Festival director, Catriona Logan, told Scottish Review: 'This has been a really special Celtic Media Festival as it is the first one we have been able to do in person since 2019. The spirit of the Celtic nations and regions is as strong as ever, with Breton drama Fin Ar Bed 2 (At The End Of The World) striking a world distribution deal during the festival which is fantastic. We now look forward to welcoming everybody to Dungloe in Ireland next year'.

Here is an edited list of Torc Awards winners:

Spirit of the Festival
Winner: Trusadh – Afro-Gàidheil, Scotland
Production company/broadcaster: MacTV/BBC ALBA

Current Affairs
Winner: Prif Weinidog Mewn Pandemig, Wales
Zwwm Films Cyf/S4C

Sports Documentary
Winner: Different League: The Derry City Story, Ireland
State of Grace Films/Stray Bear Films/BBC Two

Entertainment
Winner: The Tommy Tiernan Show, Ireland
Power Pictures Ltd & Mabinog Ltd/RTÉ

Radio Sport
Winner: Spòrs na Seachdain, Scotland
BBC Radio nan Gaidheal

Live Music
Winner: Cuirm@Celtic: Duncan Chisholm, Scotland
Beezr Studios/BBC ALBA

Children
Winner: Sol, Ireland
Paper Owl Films/TG4/BBC ALBA/S4C

Feature Documentary
Winner: Runrig: There Must Be A Place, Scotland
Blazing Griffin Pictures/Sky Arts

Drama Series
Winner: Vigil, Scotland
World Productions/BBC One

Radio Station of the Year
Winner: Raidió na Life, Ireland

Radio Presenter of the Year
Winner: Michelle Nic Grianna – RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Ireland

3. New report reveals drop in trust in UK journalism
A new report reveals that 46% of people in the UK have actively avoided reading the news as a result of fatigue at excessive Covid-19 and political coverage amid a general drop in trust in journalism.

Press Gazette reports that the Digital News Report 2022 from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) found that trust in the UK media had undergone a significant drop recently despite rising slightly during Covid-19, with just 34% of those polled saying they now trusted UK news, compared to 51% back in 2015.

While that figure put the UK far above the last-placed USA, where just 26% of people trusted most news reporting, it still left Britain among the 10 countries with the lowest trust in their news media.

Press Gazette tells us: 'The report found that The Sun was the UK's least trusted news brand out of 15 major UK titles included in the survey, with 67% of people saying they distrusted its news output compared to 12% who did. The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid was joined by the Daily Mail on 51% and 23% respectively, and the Daily Mirror on 49% and 22% respectively, at the bottom of the trust ratings. All three scored lower for trust than fledgling opinion-led TV station GB News'.

While the BBC remained the most trusted and biggest news brand in the UK, it had one of the most dramatic drops in trust in Europe in recent years. In 2018, 75% reported trusting the BBC's coverage, while 11% didn't. In 2022, that figure had flattened to 55% and 26% respectively.

Press Gazette explains that one of the report's main conclusions was that that drop in trust came alongside an increasing number of people who are now actively avoiding the news on a regular basis.

It reports: 'Some 46% of people polled in the UK said that they avoided reading the news sometimes or often – almost twice the level recorded in 2017. That put the UK's news avoidance rates far above the average 38% level recorded across the 46 countries analysed, and second only to Brazil where the figure was 54%. Worldwide, the most common factor listed among those actively avoiding news was that journalists had given too much coverage to politics and Covid-19 – a view shared by 43% of those asked'.

That was followed by claims that news was having a negative impact on people's mood (36%); people were worn out by the amount of news (29%); the news industry was untrustworthy and biased (29%); it causes arguments people wanted to avoid (17%); and people felt powerless to do anything about the information they were absorbing (16%). The report also found that 9% of people in the UK reported not reading or engaging with any news each week.

RISJ director, Rasmus Nielsen, commented: 'Despite the huge difference independent professional journalism can make in helping people understand the world beyond personal experience, we find declining interest in the news: lower trust – after a positive bump last year – as well as a growth in active news avoidance amongst some groups. Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organisations put what is best for society ahead of their own commercial interest'.

4. 150th anniversary edition of The Shetland Times
Congratulations to editor Alistair Munro and staff of The Shetland Times weekly newspaper on celebrating its 150th anniversary with a special edition on Friday 17 June.

The occasion was marked with an in-paper eight-page feature, with contributions from former editors and a free 48-page collectible glossy magazine reflecting on the paper's history.

The souvenir magazine featured 'moments' recorded over the previous 50 years. Some of these moments featured expandable content QR codes of the original newspaper pages to show how the news item was covered. These are available on the newspaper's website as PDFs, and readers can also download a facsimile of the centenary magazine from 1872 which tells the story of the first 100 years.



5. The Scotsman's daily sale drops below 10,000
Disappointing audited circulation figures from National World's three Edinburgh-based newspapers, especially The Scotsman, with an average daily sale for the six months to end December 2021 of just 9,852 copies, of which only 4,847 were over-the-counter sales. The Edinburgh Evening News returned an average daily sale of 8,977, while Scotland on Sunday's circulation was 5,881.

However, I would like again to emphasise to all of us whom fondly remember the heydays of the mid-1900s, when the sales success of our newspapers was judged solely on print circulation, that we now live in a very different world where many readers now source the content of their newspapers online.

6. Entries now open for Media Freedom Awards 2022
The Society of Editors' (SoE) Media Freedom Awards are now open for entries with all categories free-to-enter in this inaugural year. The awards feature in 18 categories recognising achievements across broadcast, national and regional newspapers, and online media platforms.

Dawn Alford, executive director of the SoE, told Scottish Review: 'The Society's new Media Freedom Awards will set the benchmark for a celebration of UK public interest journalism and the excellent reporters that champion media freedom at a time when the importance of holding power to account has never been more acute'.

Full entry details are available on the SoE's website. Entries close on 27 July.



7. Congratulations to Rhiannon Davies and her team
Congratulations to editor Rhiannon Davies and her team at Glasgow's splendid Greater Govanhill community magazine for being highly commended in this year's Digital Publishing Award's Local Hero category and runner-up in the Local Media category in the Refugee Festival Scotland media awards.

8. Shetland islanders' broadband bill… of £725,000!
Residents of a tiny Shetland hamlet have been told they must each pay almost £50,000 to establish a reliable internet connection. BT says it would cost £725,000 to provide a better service to 15 homes in Clousta, on Mainland Shetland, with the telecoms company only obliged to meet the first £3,400. Clousta's current internet connection is unreliable and often fails for long periods. However, BT maintains the quote reflects the physical cost of delivering an internet 'solution'.

9. New communications agency for Dundee
Richard Neville, who was head of newspapers at Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson until he left last December, has teamed up with former colleague Fiona Robertson to launch Neville Robertson Communications based in Dundee. Fiona also previously worked for DC Thomson, where she was head of strategic communications and corporate affairs.

Richard, a former editor of Dundee's morning daily, The Courier, told media website HoldTheFrontPage: 'It's incredibly exciting to be working together and we both believe there is a real gap in the market for the kind of expertise and services we can provide. There is a wonderful energy and spirit in our part of the world that we can help channel for maximum impact. There is a lot happening in our part of the world and new business and new opportunities are springing up every month'.

Fiona added: 'Having been involved in major initiatives surrounding the redevelopment of Dundee, Perth and Fife, we're both proud ambassadors for the area and so we believe that we're ideally placed to give a first-class service with our new business'.

Richard announced he was leaving his role with DC Thomson last December at the same time as the group appointed its first-ever chief executive, Rebecca Miskin.



Should you wish to get in touch with me, please email me at: mackay858@btinternet.com

Caithness-born Hamish Mackay is now in his 57th year as an occasional/sometimes regular contributor to the UK's exceedingly diverse media market

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