Ernest Petrie has been elected president of the Scottish Newspaper Publishers' Association.

Veteran newspaperman Ernest is chairman of Forth Independent Newspapers, which publishes the Alloa-based Wee County News, and was previously group managing director of Regional Independent Newspapers.

The association represents publishers of 100 weekly and bi-weekly newspapers and a further 30 free distribution newspapers in Scotland, and as its new president Ernest has pledged to to promote their interests.

He said: "It is encouraging that in contrast to other printed media, circulation of approximately half of SNPA titles edged upwards according to the most recent ABC figures.

"Twenty years ago, the demise of weekly paid-for newspapers was widely predicted against the onslaught of new free newspapers and one of the unsung media successes of the intervening period has been the consistently rising performance of weekly paid-for newspapers.

"Nowhere is this more evident than in Scotland where an increasing readership shows appreciation of the value in money represented by the complete weekly information package which gets under the skin of local issues and provides comprehensive details on all local jobs, motors, entertainment and properties - and all of this for 50-60p per week."

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