Scotsman one of six titles to be overseen by same editor in JPI Media Scotland restructure

One editor will oversee six Scottish newspapers, including The Scotsman, as JPI Media restructures its newsrooms to focus on digital growth.

Edinburgh Evening News editor and Scotsman deputy editor Euan McGrory will become editor for Scotland, but only for print. He will also oversee Scotland on Sunday, Falkirk Herald, Fife Free Press and Southern Reporter.

McGrory tweeted that he was “looking forward to the challenge and to working with many friends, old and new”.

JPI Media is creating a new all-Scotland structure with its “digital acceleration programme” following a successful pilot of the model in the North East of England.

The digital-focused restructure is being led by Scotsman editor Frank O’Donnell in his role as editorial director for Scotland before he leaves in May to join rival DC Thomson.

JPI Media has yet to appoint an overall Scotland editor.

Scotsman head of content Alan Young will expand his role across all six titles under the restructure, with the daily paper’s assistant news editor Dale Miller to step up as his deputy.

Free Press editor Allan Crow will become a specialist editor (geographic) while Herald editor Jill Buchanan will become deputy print and curation editor.

The new model aims to boost web traffic and grow the number of “loyal users” and page views on its websites, while also “maintaining” print performance.

It splits staff into three main teams: “digital first”, “print optimisation”, and “smaller brands”, the latter of which in Scotland will encompass all other weekly titles not under McGrory’s stewardship.

He will be supported in his print editorship by Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday news editor Paul Wilson, who will take charge of The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News on a Sunday.

Chris Dry, currently Scotland on Sunday chief sub, will lead the print production of the weekly title each Saturday.

Other appointments include live editors and specialist editors covering different geographic areas, sports, arts and comment. A full list can be seen here.

JPI Media chief executive David King told staff earlier this month the pilot of the “digital acceleration programme” in the North East last year had boosted page views by 49 per cent year-on-year and unique users by 36 per cent.

The Sheffield newsroom, still in its first few weeks of the restructure, has already seen page views grow by 11 per cent year-on-year, King added.

“There is clearly an opportunity for further growth as we roll out our digital acceleration practices across the group,” he said.