Duns Rotary Club was pleased to welcome Sandy Brydon, Deputy Editor of the Berwickshire News as the speaker at last weeks meeting.
Sandy gave a fascination and informative talk on his own life in the world of journalism, and also on the present state and the likely future of local newspapers.
Sandy joined the paper as a young 17 years old and over his 41 years working for the Berwickshire has moved up to become Deputy Editor.
The Berwickshire News has a long history. It was stablished in 1869 and won the Best Local Newspaper in Scotland award in 1995. Like all newspapers it has undergone huge change over its 146 years, adapting to the changes in society. The days of most news coming through reporters, who would visit local events and attend trials in court, have long gone. Most material is now UGC = User Generated Content, and received through press releases.
The paper is now part of the Johnson Press family of 200 weekly newspapers. The staff has fallen over the years from over 100 people 15 years ago to only 12 full-time staff working in Berwick. The process has moved from the old hot press to typewriter and now to computers. The number of pages is really controlled by the level of advertising revenue and the text these days is sent electronically to Cumbernauld, where 5,000 copies can be run off in 15 minutes.
The Berwickshire has played, and continues to play, an important part in our community and is always keen to campaign on local issues. Over the years these causes have included maintaining ‘Berwickshire’, standing up for the KOSB, opposing the closure of the Knoll Hospital, and most recently, supporting the campaign to preserve the St Abbs Lifeboat
Looking to the future, Sandy talked about the ways in which social change has reduced the amount of time people have to read newspapers. The increase of the internet and the accessibility of various digital platforms means that young people don’t buy newspapers. It may be that the future is more in the format of News sheets than news papers.
Sandy was thanked for an excellent presentation which was enjoyed by all in attendance