Daily Mail most popular news website for Scottish Government staff

Figures released to The Scotsman show the news website, branded as Mail Online, was the most accessed news site by those working for the Scottish Government

The site was accessed a total of 27,086 times between September 15 and March 16 – a Freedom of Information request found.

The Scotsman asked the Scottish Government for the number of times a select handful of websites were accessed by staff during 2020 and the first two months of this year.

However, the Scottish Government only retains logs of web access for six months, but provided data for September 15, 2020 to March 16, 2021.

Following on from dailymail.co.uk, the next most popular news website for Scottish Government staff is heraldscotland.com, home to The Herald newspaper, which was accessed nearly 20,000 times (19,856 in total).

The Scotsman’s own scotsman.com was next on the list, accessed by civil servants almost 19,000 times (18,807 in total).

The Guardian, which has dedicated Scottish reporters, was next on the list, having been accessed 15,711 times by Scottish Government staff.

The national title pipped its rival The Scottish Sun by just over 1,500 visits, with thescottishsun.co.uk being visited 14,210 times in those six months.

The Daily Record – one of Scotland’s best-selling newspapers – was read more than 11,000 times (11,650) by staff, putting it ahead of The Telegraph, which was accessed just under 10,000 times (9,742) by Scottish Government staff.

Wings Over Scotland, the firebrand pro-independence blog run by Stuart Campbell in Bath, was accessed 2,293 times.

Bella Caledonia, another member of the independence supporting ‘new media’, was accessed 537 times in the same six-month time period.

In November last year, a different Freedom of Information request said the SNP’s own website was accessed 890 times between April 27 and October 28, with the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ website viewed 706 times.

The Scottish Greens was next, with figures stating it was accessed 568 times, with the Scottish Tories on 424 and Scottish Labour on 225.

The Scotsman did not ask the Scottish Government for updated figures on political websites.

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