Broadcast and freelance veteran, David Calder, has been named editor of the Caledonian Mercury, Scotland’s award-winning online newspaper after founder, Stewart Kirkpatrick, recently took up a post as Head of Digital at the Yes Campaign.
Calder has been responsible for the Caledonian Mercury’s video coverage and business reporting for over two years. He has over 30 years’ news and business broadcasting experience, mainly with the BBC. His experience spans both TV and radio general news and business coverage on The Money Programme, Radios 4 and 5, BBC Radio Scotland and the BBC World Service. His print journalism experience includes writing for Scottish Business Insider and editing the technology pages of The Scotsman for over five years.
He said:- “As the new editor of the Caledonian Mercury, I am taking over a newspaper that tied with The Guardian Online in the Newspaper of the Year awards, and I need to build on this strong foundation.
“I have several challenges. The first is to make this a ‘must see’ publication, whether you’re reading the articles or watching the videos. That means we have to follow the BBC founder, Lord Reith’s maxim of entertaining as well as informing and educating.
“The second, will be to make this whole project not just viable, but profitable and that requires building the readership base and engaging more with them. I am determined that we become more interactive and offer more services to build an active relationship with our audience. To help us do this, we are looking at partnering with other organisations, both on and offline.
“We also need to reach out to the wider Scottish community, outside the central belt and on into the Scottish Diaspora, to connect with people who claim an association with Scotland by descent or affinity.
“The next two years will be really exciting – and not just because of the referendum. We have the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow and we want to let you know about the Scottish stars who’ll be performing on that stage. Plus next year, local TV will come to Edinburgh and Glasgow and the Caledonian Mercury is already part of one of those bids.
“The journey ahead will be challenging – but I hope you’ll join us on the way.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
