Floating points: Feedback: Tale of two halves

Jonathan Wills

The Guardian (London), Thursday, November 20, 1997

When you can tell such a rattling good yarn it seems a pity to spoil it with some facts that you could have got had you bothered to call or e-mail me (Shetland showdown, November 13). No, I did not go out in my boat when the Shetland Times [vs Shetland News] Internet court case was called in Edinburgh, a week last Tuesday. It was not a good day for fishing, so I was at my desk here all the time.

Also, you write that 'by taking their squabble to court' the Shetland Times and I 'threatened the world with a legal precedent'. Actually, it was Robert Wishart, managing director of the Shetland Times, who went to law, not me. All I did was defend myself, with the help of the NUJ.

And what's this stuff about a 'rival' Web site? I may be eccentric but I'm not so daft as to donate circulation to a rival. The Shetland Times Online is the electronic edition of a weekly local newspaper, and not a bad one, either. Two years ago, the Shetland News became Britain's first local daily to publish solely on the Internet. We don't attempt to be a local weekly newspaper. Most of our 16,000 or so readers don't even live in the Shetland Islands. So these very different publications are complementary, not rivals.

Jonathan Wills The Shetland News jonathan.wills@virgin.net

 

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