Observer Scotland

EDM number 1326 in 1989-90, proposed by Alex Salmond on 23/07/1990.

That this House regrets greatly the planned closure of The Observer Scotland, announced by Lonrho Media Group and The Observer newspaper on 18th July, less than two years after the title's launch; shares the concern of many Scottish readers that a distinctive voice reflecting politics, arts and culture will be lost to Scotland; seeks to ensure that Lonrho Media and The Observer explain and defend the decision to close a title whose relative circulation performance has been greater than its parent paper's performance in England and Wales, and whose loss is likely to send The Observer, Britain's oldest Sunday newspaper, into further decline in Scotland; notes that the readership survey in December 1989 showed that 93 per cent. of Scottish readers backed the supplement's retention; believes that the title's closure, following the loss in 1983 of The Sunday Standard newspaper, reflects the problem of external ownership of the Scottish media; and hopes that the journalistic gap left by The Observer Scotland can be filled, by a reversal of its owners' decision or by other means.

This motion has been signed by a total of 9 MPs.