A weekly newspaper is being launched next month in East Kilbride, Scotland, by two highly experienced newspaper men.
The East Kilbride Mail will be in direct competition with the well-established weekly paper East Kilbride News.
Management is not giving out the precise launch date, cover price or print run of the EK Mail for commercial reasons.
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Managing director is Steve McLaughlin, a former circulation director of the Daily Record and former managing director of Score Press.
Crawford Brankin, who held senior positions on The Scottish Sun, The Herald and the Glasgow Evening Times before being launch editor of the Scottish Daily Mirror, will be a director specialising in the editorial operation.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is financing the venture, with McLaughlin and Brankin also investing cash.
The third largest investor is East Kilbride-born former soccer star Ally McCoist, who has carved out a new career in TV punditry.
McLaughlin and Brankin have been working on the project for two years.
Brankin said: “It’s been a well thought through project and, with respect to the existing newspaper in the area, we believe a town the size of East Kilbride can sustain another publication. It is vibrant and growing – the ideal place to launch a newspaper.”
The weekly has an initial staff of 10 – five of whom are editorial – under young editor Ross McKay, who has a background in local magazines.
“There has been a considerable interest among advertisers who want to be in our opening editions, and that’s a very good start,” said McLaughlin.
The East Kilbride News, which has a circulation of about 16,500, is owned by Scottish & Universal Newspapers (SUN), a subsidiary of Trinity Mirror.
The editorial director of SUN is John Scott, who is a former editor of the Glasgow Evening Times, where Brankin was his deputy.
By Hamish Mackay
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