The title, which will provide readers with Scottish news, views and opinions, will launch on Friday 16 May. Issue 'zero', the launch issue, will be free of charge. The first paid-for issue will go on sale Friday 23 May priced at £2.50.
The latest information on Scottish arts, food and drink, books, travel and property will also be included in the magazine, which is aimed primarily at the ABC1 demographic.
The Stooshie editor-in-chief Richard Neville said: “I think this is an incredible year for Scotland with the referendum, the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.”
“All of this makes us believe that there’s a real appetite for news about Scotland from Scotland and that’s really the driving force behind it. We’ll be looking at the main news events of the week and trying to present all of the points and views in the argument.”
The title, which will have an editorial team of a size equivalent to six to eight full-time satff, will include a weekly column from comedian and BBC Scotland presenter Fred MacAulay.
Other regular features will include ‘The Main Event’, a concise round-up of the week’s biggest news stories, and ‘Around Scotland’, which will look at unusual stories and the major sporting and political news of the week from across the country.
The magazine, which will be printed at Polestar Bicester, will have an initial print run of over 100,000 for issue zero. After that it will be in the tens of thousands for the first few issues before it settles down at a number that could not yet be estimated.
“People are time-poor these days, particularly given the number of news outlets that there are now, so they want to be informed quickly. But there’s still an appetite for the printed product. Our aim is to make a high quality printed magazine but with a bite-sized digest that people have come to expect from the internet.”
A digital replica of The Stooshie will be available on the iTunes store and through the magazine’s website. The web product will be developed further after the printed product has become established in the marketplace.
