Former ITN chairman and chief executive Mark Wood is appointed chairman of the Scottish News Consortium which is bidding for the government’s channel 3 and multiplatform Scottish news contract, the alliance announced today.
The consortium groups DC Thomson, the Herald & Times Group, Johnston Press and television producer Tinopolis’s Mentorn Scotland subsidiary.
The companies have a network of some 1,000 editorial staff in offices across Scotland.
A consortium spokesman said: “Mark brings experience at the most senior levels in British television news and a sophisticated understanding of the multiplatform world. We welcome him to this Scottish partnership which plans to bring an unsurpassable range and depth of news and debate to the people of Scotland.”
Wood said: "The consortium will transform the way television and broadband news is covered in Scotland and create a new model for partnership between newspapers and broadcasters.
“Nowhere else in the UK can a news service tap into such an incredible network of journalists as the three media groups offer in Scotland. Add to that the television expertise of Mentorn and our ground-breaking plans for a truly multi-platform and interactive tv/web news service and this is a dramatically new way of engaging Scottish viewers with national regional and community news,” he added.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is seeking bids to provide the Scottish news to STV along with innovative use of digital platforms. Commercial television companies say that with falling advertising revenue they can no longer afford to cover this kind of news. Bidding closes March 2 with the winner due to be announced on March 25.
Notes to editors:
Mark Wood was formerly Chairman and Chief executive of ITN, which produces ITV News and Channel 4 News. At ITN he developed a range of successful digital new media businesses. Before ITN he was Editor-in-Chief of Reuters, in charge of the organisation's global news, photo and video services. At Reuters he also had responsibility for developing the media business and was a member of the Reuters PLC Board.
Wood is now involved in a number of new media businesses as an investor or director. He is also on the Board of Future PLC, the global magazine publishing group.
Wood started his career as a foreign correspondent and was based in Moscow, Berlin, Bonn and Vienna.
DC Thomson & Co Ltd was founded in 1905 and produces more than 100 million newspapers and magazines annually. The company publishes a number of newspaper titles, including The Press & Journal, Evening Express, The Courier & Advertiser, Evening Telegraph and The Sunday Post. DC Thomson also publishes a number of magazines, children’s publications and owns two book publishing companies. It is deeply involved in internet technology through its wholly-owned subsidiary Brightsolid (formerly Scotland Online), a leading UK independent provider of IT business services to large public and private sector organisations.
The Herald & Times Group publishes The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times and news web sites heraldscotland.com and eveningtimes.co.uk. It also publishes niche magazines and owns the s1 internet advertising company and a major printing plant. The Glasgow-based group was founded in 1783 and has some 600 staff.
Johnston Press is the second largest regional press company in the UK, employing over 6,000 staff and with a turnover in 2008 of £532m. The company has strong connections to Scotland having originated in Falkirk in 1767 and with its headquarters located in Edinburgh. Johnston Press is one of the biggest news organisations in Scotland with an extensive portfolio of newspapers and associated websites, including The Scotsman and scotsman.com.
Employing more than 400 people in London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Oxford and Llanelli, the Tinopolis Group produces broadcast television programming for all major domestic channels. Subsidiaries include Mentorn Media; leading sports producer Sunset + Vine; BAFTA-winning drama producers Daybreak Pictures; specialist factual producers Pioneer Productions; and the leading TV training company Video Arts, originally founded by John Cleese. Tinopolis Interactive specialises in new media products for education, training, corporate development and entertainment. Mentorn Scotland has been producing TV programmes for almost a decade, with titles such as Clans (BBC Scotland), The Last Word (BBC Scotland) and Traffic Cops (BBC One). Mentorn has produced Question Time for the BBC for 11 years from more than 200 locations across the UK, including Scottish venues in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fort William, Perth, Dunfermline, Aberdeen, Dundee and the Shetland Isles.
Press contact: Andrew Richardson
Johnston Press
andrew.richardson@johnstonpress.co.uk
0131-220 9604
07720-998421