Rules and ethics
Edinburgh digital PR and the Scots law angles that shape it
Edinburgh digital PR runs on Scots law data rules and a distinct media market. Here is how to pitch The Scotsman and STV and measure Scottish coverage.
What to take away
- Scots law differences, especially around data use, change how you collect, store and publish campaign data.
- The Scotsman and STV commission different formats, so pitch them separately rather than sending one release to both.
- Public sector and third sector stories carry more weight in Edinburgh than in most UK cities.
Edinburgh's media sector and who commissions coverage
Edinburgh's media sector is small enough to map by hand. It is not London with a tartan filter. The city has national newsrooms, a public broadcaster, specialist tech and science press, and a cluster of public bodies that generate stories all year.
The main national titles are based in Glasgow or Edinburgh and commission across Scotland. The Scotsman remains the reference point for politics, business and comment. STV is the main commercial broadcaster, with evening news and online video that often travels further than the written piece.
Beyond those two, look at The Herald, the Press and Journal, the Edinburgh Evening News and BBC Scotland. Specialist outlets cover fintech, life sciences and the university sector. Trade and hyperlocal titles matter for niche campaigns.
Who commissions? At The Scotsman, the Comment desk, the Business desk and the Politics desk hold most of the power, with the news desk handling breaking stories. At STV, Scotland Tonight, STV News at Six and STV's political editor decide, along with the news planning team at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.
A pitch to a generic newsroom address usually dies.
Outlet choice should follow audience behaviour, not habit. Research on news habits and media shows how people find and trust news, which helps you pick outlets by audience rather than by title recognition.
A useful internal check before you build an Edinburgh media list is the same one you would use for any region: does the outlet reach the people you want? If not, a smaller specialist title can beat a national one.
Scots law differences that affect data use in campaigns
Scots law differs from the law of England and Wales in several practical ways. Some are procedural, some touch data and privacy. For digital PR, the differences that matter most are how personal data is handled, how consent is recorded, and how public bodies release information.
The UK GDPR applies across the UK, and the Information Commissioner's Office sets out the duties that organisations must follow when processing personal data. Those duties interact with Scots law where Scottish courts, the Crown Office, or Scottish public authorities are involved.
The Data Protection Act 2018 is the legislation underpinning data compliance, and it operates differently in Scotland in some areas, including parts of law enforcement processing and the role of the Scottish Information Commissioner alongside the ICO.
Freedom of information is the clearest split. Scottish public authorities answer to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, not the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000.
If a request is refused, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the response, and the authority must reply within 20 working days. If the refusal stands, you can appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within six months of the review decision.
The Commissioner publishes decision notices that name the authority and the exemption, such as section 30 (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) or section 33 (commercial interests).
If you collect your own data from Scottish residents, your lawful basis and privacy notice must still meet UK GDPR standards. Scots law does not lower the bar. It can add layers when a public authority is the data controller.
Scots law also affects how contracts and defamation claims are handled. A story that names a Scottish company or individual can be pursued under Scots law, so legal review before publication is not optional.
For a broader view, our guide to UK regulations on data and sources sets out that framework.
Pitching The Scotsman and STV: routes and formats
Pitching The Scotsman is a written game. The paper wants argument, expertise and a Scottish angle. News releases work, but comment pieces and data-led features often land better with the comment and business desks.
Edinburgh launch pitch sequence
- Build short Edinburgh media list of named editors
- Write two versionsnews release and broadcast pitch
- Offer exclusive to one outlet if strong
- Send pitch before 10am on weekday
- Follow up once by phone, then move on
Pitching STV is a visual game. Producers want pictures, case studies and people who can speak on camera in central Scotland. If your story has no human face, it is a weak TV pitch.
Here is a practical sequence for an Edinburgh launch.
Pitching The Scotsman and STV
- Build a short Edinburgh media list of named editors and producers, not generic addresses.
- Write two versions of the storya news release for The Scotsman and a broadcast pitch for STV.
- Offer an exclusive to one outlet if the story is strong enough, and be clear about the terms.
- Send the pitch before 10am on a weekday, with data and a named spokesperson.
- Follow up once by phone, then move on.
Sample subject lines for the two outlets.
Pitching The Scotsman and STV
- The Scotsman'Comment: a Scottish skills plan for Edinburgh's fintech growth'
- STV'Pictures: Edinburgh office opening, manager free for interview on Wednesday'
Worked example: a fintech client opens an Edinburgh office. The Scotsman gets a business desk pitch on jobs and investment, with Scottish employment data. STV gets a producer pitch with the office manager available for interview and shots of the new space. Two pitches, one story, different formats.
A market entry checklist helps if you are new to the market.
Public sector and third sector angles unique to Edinburgh
Edinburgh is a capital city, so public sector PR is not a side channel. The Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Scotland, universities and national cultural bodies all produce stories and all have communications teams.
Third sector organisations are also concentrated here. Housing, poverty, environment and health charities run campaigns from Edinburgh and often need data partners. That makes them good clients and good sources.
Angles that work: policy consultations, funding announcements, service changes, research from Edinburgh's universities, and city-level comparisons with Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.
Angles that fail: London-first stories with a Scottish quote bolted on. Scottish public sector communicators spot that quickly.
When you work with a public body, expect longer approval chains and a stronger focus on data protection. Their communications team will ask about lawful basis and retention before they share anything.
ONS business statistics can give you the Scottish market context you need for these pitches, including business counts and industry structure.
A digital PR target audience built on UK averages will miss Scottish differences in media and public sector interest.
Compliance checks before you publish Scottish data stories
Run these checks before any Scottish data story goes out.
Scottish data story compliance checks
- Confirm lawful basis for personal data
- Check dataset FOI regime and authority
- Verify consent records cover Scottish participants
- Review privacy notice for Scotland wording
- Check legal review for named Scots
- Confirm retention and deletion dates
- Record who approved final figures
- Confirm the lawful basis for processing any personal data.
- Check whether the dataset came from a Scottish public authority and under which FOI regime.
- Verify that consent records cover Scottish participants separately.
- Review the privacy notice for Scotland-specific wording.
- Check whether the story names a Scottish person or company and needs legal review.
- Confirm retention and deletion dates for the campaign data.
- Record who approved the final figures.
If a campaign involves personal data, check data protection duties early rather than after the pitch. Fixing a lawful basis after publication is far harder.
The ICO's guidance for organisations is the starting point for these checks, and it is written for UK-wide use. Scottish public bodies also answer to the Scottish Information Commissioner on FOI matters.
Keep a simple record: source, date, licence, lawful basis, approver. That record protects you if a complaint arrives months later.
Measuring Scottish coverage separately from UK totals
Scottish coverage measurement should be a separate line in every report. If you fold The Scotsman and STV into a UK total, you cannot tell whether Scotland worked.
Track Scottish outlets as their own group. Record placement, outlet, reach, sentiment and referral traffic for each. Compare against your Scottish objectives, not against London benchmarks.
Scotland's population is around 5.5 million, so a Scottish-only campaign will not produce UK-scale reach. Edinburgh's population is around 526,000, which sets the local ceiling. BARB measures STV's TV audience and publishers report their own digital reach, so use those numbers rather than a UK average.
Set up separate media lists in your monitoring tool so Scottish mentions are tagged automatically. Add Scottish-specific keywords, including place names and public body names.
Use ONS business statistics to size the Scottish market when you set targets, so your benchmarks reflect the actual business population.
Review quarterly. Scottish media cycles follow the parliamentary term, the school year and the festival season, so coverage patterns shift through the year.
