John McLellan clarifies events on the day he lost his job as editor of The Scotsman

The former editor of The Scotsman, John McLellan, who lost his job in the ongoing editorial rationalisation of the Johnston Press regional newspaper empire, has clarified the sequence of events on the day he ended his association with the newspaper.

The clarification came yesterday in an article on the Scottish press in the tri-weekly news and current affairs website, Scottish Review, by its editor, Kenneth Roy.

Roy wrote: ...”an apology. I reported yesterday that the tenth editor of The Scotsman in 18 years, John McLellan, had been escorted off the premises.

“I took as my source that unimpeachable organ, The Guardian, which phrased it more delicately than another media outlet which had the outgoing editor 'marched' off the premises.

“Mr McLellan writes to me: 'Last Thursday, after I had been told I was being dismissed, I went round the building to speak to some of my colleagues, then the morning editorial conference and, finally, I addressed the editorial staff.

“’I then walked off the newsroom floor, said another quick cheerio, got in the lift to the car park and drove out. All unaccompanied. On my own. Not escorted off the premises'.”

Adds Roy: “Well, I suppose there's something to be said for the Johnston Press after all. Mr McLellan left with his dignity unimpaired. He was just fired.”

The Scottish Review’s in-depth examination of the Scottish press continues today (Thursday).