The launch of The Scottish Catholic heralds a rebirth of Catholic journalistic integrity and ethos in Scotland, hears Jason Osborne
The pandemic took a toll on all aspects of the Church and Church-related life, Catholic media being no different.
In Scotland, the combined difficulties of the pandemic and ensuing restrictions saw the closure of the venerable, 135 year-old Scottish Catholic Observer. Founded in 1885, it had been Scotland’s only national Catholic newspaper, covering events and stories internationally, nationally and locally. Suffice to say, its loss was a painful blow to the country’s Catholic community.
Integrity
However, October saw the rebirth of, if not the Scottish Catholic Observer, a publication looking to move forward in the same spirit of Catholic, journalistic integrity. The Scottish Catholic launched in the able hands of former editor of the Scottish Catholic Observer, Ian Dunn, and those of Mary and Dan McGinty of The Irish Voice, a mother-son team with both Catholic journalistic and publishing experience.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Mr Dunn told of the “opportunity” they saw in the void left by the closure of the Scottish Catholic Observer.
“Myself and a few others, Mary McGinty and Dan McGinty, they’re a mother-son team who had both been involved in the [Scottish Catholic] Observer days, and also they run a monthly newspaper/magazine for the Irish in Scotland called The Irish Voice, so they’ve experience of launching something, because that’s about 10 years old now,” Mr Dunn tells this newspaper.”
“Obviously it’s a smaller thing, but they knew the nuts and bolts of that kind of thing. So the three of us got together and said, ‘Well, maybe this is an opportunity’. At that point, we’re in the heart of a second lockdown, we don’t know what’s happening, but we thought, ‘Right, let’s see if this is a goer’.
“So we started to feel around and see what people are looking for, we talked to the bishops, we talked to the priests, talked to the Lord and his wife sort of thing. They really felt there was a hunger,” he says.
There’s a need for a voice that’s trusted, that’s dependable, that people will trust to tell them the truth”
The “hunger” among Scotland’s Catholics is “merely” for journalistic integrity and a Catholic ethos, Mr Dunn explains, saying that they saw people engaging with Catholic content online – but that much of it “comes from elsewhere”, and that they saw people having “very American arguments”.
“There were good things in various dioceses and good people doing things, but without that trusted local source, a lot of it is American, a lot of it comes from elsewhere, so we started to see folk having American arguments, you know?
“A lot of that ‘culture war’ kind of stuff coming in waves that seem quite venomous, and that was something that really – we saw there was a real need for this. There’s a need for a voice that’s trusted, that’s dependable, that people will trust to tell them the truth. But also simply not to be wild. Not to be coming out saying all sorts of crazy stuff, but having that journalistic integrity. Merely that and a Catholic ethos. There’s a need for that,” Mr Dunn says.
Mainstream papers
During the heyday of the Scottish Catholic Observer, Mr Dunn says the “mainstream papers” would regularly pick up their stories at the weekend, and it’s that sort of reporting that he’s looking forward to getting back to. Getting to the heart of issues and telling people the things no one else will is “at the heart of what you want to do” as a journalist, he says.
“I would still be a big believer that society needs journalists, we need journalists who can hold people to account. Who can tell you what’s really going on, who can cut through all of the nonsense on Facebook and social media and give it to you straight. Now as much as ever. Societies need it.
“Catholicism and journalism often seem like they’re at odds, but fundamentally, they have something in common, which is: Journalism is about, if it’s done right, uncovering the truth, trying to get to some kind of truth, and I would very much be of the opinion that if you dig deep enough and you look hard enough, you come to some truths which are pretty fundamental, and ultimately, Catholic,” he says.
There’s going to be that balance…we are going to do that bit of news, that’s going to be there for sure, but at the same time, faith comes in through the heart”
Launching this magazine because they believe it’s “necessary” in the Scottish landscape, Mr Dunn and his team are under no illusions that it’ll be easy, predicting a “rollercoaster ride” and a “few bumps” in the magazine’s first months, but they’re sustained by a sense of need and the knowledge that they’re “on to a winner”.
“We believe we’ve got a good product, a good magazine, there’s going to be lots of exciting stuff in there…it’s going to be a lot of graft, but we’re excited for the challenge,” Mr Dunn says.
Talking a lot about the digging and searching that are part of a journalist’s career, Mr Dunn doesn’t neglect the gentler side of the job – “unveiling” and “shining a light” on things and people that “are good and worth celebrating”.
Faith
“There’s going to be that balance…we are going to do that bit of news, that’s going to be there for sure, but at the same time, faith comes in through the heart. A key aspect for us is to put Scottish Catholics at the heart of The Scottish Catholic.
“I mean, how many people in our parishes, in Ireland as well as Scotland, are absolute heroes, quietly going about their business, just living lives of virtue, you know? Telling some of those stories is really important to us.”