Former Inverness Courier owner Stuart Lindsay tribute – Paul Breen, ex-Courier, Highland News and Press and Journal
Paul Breen, former editor of the Highland News Group, described Stuart Lindsay as an outstanding journalist whose vision and determination changed the face of local newspapers in the Highlands when he became proprietor of the Inverness Courier in 1988.
READ THE TRIBUTE: ‘An exemplary journalist… a crucial witness’ – ex-Courier owner helped nail Renee and Andrew MacRae’s killer
“I got to know Stuart well when I came to Inverness in the late 1970s as a reporter with the Press and Journal. He became a reporter with the Glasgow Herald and an established member of the close-knit Inverness press corps.
“He was a dogged chaser of a story who showed no fear or favour to those in authority or influence and was renowned for his accuracy, wealth of local knowledge and considerable list of contacts. Stuart could confidently turn his hand to a variety of styles from hard news, features or lighter topics where his dry wit and clever turn of phrase would be on display.
“Stuart was always willing to give advice and assistance while working either competitively in the tough national newspaper arena or when co-operating with local colleagues when required.
“Sometimes it could backfire, as I recall one cold New Year’s Day when we were sent to Easter Ross by our respective newsdesks to cover a tragic fire in the days long before mobile phones and even the Kessock Bridge.
“Having gathered the material we needed for the story, we got set to return to our offices when the notoriously unreliable P&J fleet car I was giving Stuart a lift in refused to allow the gears to engage.
“Stuart insisted on trying and with a mighty yank pulled the gear lever clean out. There followed a long trek to find a phone box and negotiate a taxi to come out on Ne’er Day.
“Stuart strongly believed in the values of honest journalism and the importance of highlighting Highland issues – the same values shared by legendary Inverness Courier proprietor Miss Eveline Barron from whom the Herald rented an office. They developed a close working relationship.
“Miss Barron had turned down many lucrative offers from organisations to purchase the Courier over the years and when it come time to retire in 1988 she turned to Stuart to be her successor, knowing she shared her ethics and enthusiasm.
“Stuart set out to retain the traditional journalistic values of the title but also had a vision to expand and modernise. He recruited several senior local journalists from other titles such as Alex Main, Jim Love, Ron Lyon and Duncan Ross to work with and encourage a group of young trainees, several of whom have gone on to successful careers at national and local level.
“When he hired me to join him in 1990 as a sub-editor he was putting in place the final piece of his modernisation masterplan to computerise production of the Courier with pioneering state-of-the art systems – one of the fist local newspapers in Scotland to do so. He also changed the look of the newspapers and replaced its traditional front page of all adverts to one with news and pictures.
“It is hard to believe today that this would have caused controversy among readers, but it did for a short while. However, he persevered and it worked. A couple of years later the ‘new-look’ Courier was making record-breaking sales of 20,000 for Friday editions – figures that can only be dreamed of in today’s digital age.
“But the rapid speed of change had its costs in the financial turbulence of the Thatcher era with eye-watering interest rates on borrowing in 1990 – and Stuart reluctantly sold the Courier to Scottish Provincial Press.
“But I believe Stuart’s pioneering legacy lives on in every edition of Courier since his transformation of it and the glory days that followed.
“And his skill as a journalist again came to the fore as recently as 2022 when Stuart became a key witness in the sensational Renee MacRae murder trial, giving evidence about the details of an interview he obtained with the prime suspect and her former lover William MacDowell days after the disappearance in 1976 of Renee and her three-year-old son Andrew.
“MacDowell was eventually convicted of murdering both in an A9 lay-by and later died in prison.”
