Last chance: Why you should subscribe for just £12 a year

It happened last week. I posted a pretty basic thread reflecting on my year in the editor’s chair here at The National, and discussing how hard our team works to publish a wide array of multimedia content. It really wasn’t controversial.

But, next thing I know, I’m bombarded with messages about what a disgrace to journalism I am, how Anglophobic our “rag/comic” is – some suggested my parents should disown me and I should be jailed for treason. Charming.

I’m used to getting hate sent my way. It obviously comes with the territory when you’re leading Scotland’s only pro-independence daily newspaper team. I knew what I was signing up for, and I honestly just brush it off.

Laura Webster on a panel at the Break Up of Britain conference (Image: Daniel Milligan)

What I find funny is how feral these staunch Union flag accounts on social media get when I say the least offensive things. “As stressful as working in news can be, I love my role,” were the words that sparked literally hundreds of furious replies.

When I pointed out that this reaction hardly reads as our harshest critics being unbothered by us, I only added more fuel to the fire. No no, we’re definitely not upset at all, they wrote – taking even more time out of their day to stress just how little they care …

Of course The National is a threat. We’re the only ones doing what we do. And we’re completely resolute in the face of the abusive messages that get sent our way on a daily basis. You can’t scare us out of putting the pro-independence, progressive perspective at the forefront of everything we do.

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Those who want to shut us down – who write to our bosses with nonsense claims we’ve all heard before, demanding we fold – are spending their time calling for that because we ARE a threat. We ARE visible. We have more digital subscribers than many long-established Scottish media brands, our social media posts are seen more than the other titles in our space, our videos engaging younger audiences.

So here’s the question: If The National isn’t a threat to the status-quo, why do you spend SO much of your time talking about us?

I’m so proud of our team, delivering brilliant agenda-setting exclusives, engaging multimedia content and smart social media posts. Our varied and diverse columnists offer a range of perspectives. I’ve loved my year as editor so far, but we’ve lots more coming in a major General Election year and we always want to improve. My inbox is always open to hear your views, whether they’re positive or negative. We have to keep evolving.

When you look around the Scottish media landscape, it’s clear that The National is offering something unique. If you value that, and want to support us as we grow and change – always with independence at the centre of everything we do – please consider supporting us. You have until Friday night to pick up a subscription for just £12 for an entire year of access to The National. We’d love you to join us.