Live from 5 April 2021, online ‘Election Hubs’ on both The Press & Journal and The Courier websites will provide a multimedia one-stop-shop, featuring expert opinion, live polls, data visualisations, reaction and analysis. The reporting team will focus on the local and regional issues that are most important to both the news brands audiences across Tayside, Fife, Perthshire, the North and North East.

The campaign is kicking off with the launch of an ‘Election Manifesto’, available online and as a pull-out in the papers on Monday 5th April, setting out DC Thomson Media’s commitment for covering Scottish politics around themes of civility, experience and trustworthiness.

The team will also launch what it says is Scotland’s first interactive digital newscast, ‘Election Hub Live’, a daily 20-minute livestream, available to watch on The Press & Journal and The Courier websites and social channels. The broadcasts will feature the latest headlines, insight from the politics reporting team, in-depth interviews with Scotland's leading politicians on the campaign trail, and broadcast-style video stories. Election Hub Live will be hosted by recently appointed Group Head of Politics, David Mac Dougall, with reporter Rachel Amery and producer Finlay Jack and all content will also be available for re-stream.

In addition, Tayside-based farmer and stand-up comedian, Jim Smith will sit down with party leaders 'on the farm' to talk about issues that are important to rural communities, in a light-hearted way. DC Thomson Media will be premiering his interviews across digital and print.

Finally, the weekly podcast ‘The Stooshie’ will continue to offer round-table discussions with DC Thomson Media’s reporters, allowing them time to discuss the week's most impactful stories in more detail.

The new style of reporting for the election is part of the Apollo transformation programme, currently being undertaken by DC Thomson Media. The programme will see the business transform to better serve communities with compelling, relevant content digitally and in print, say the publishers.

David Mac Dougall, Group Head of Politics said: “As the Scottish Parliamentary election fast approaches, our aim is to bring our audiences unrivalled political coverage, delivering compelling content that people want to read, watch and listen to.

“Across print, social and the launch of our Election Hubs, we will bring a fresh and unique offering, centred on the high-quality journalism our audience has come to expect from DC Thomson Media.

“In addition, we have invested in one of the most comprehensive election research projects conducted by a Scottish media company to identify and define the most important topics to our audiences. This allows our political reporting to be hyper-localised and relevant for our readers, as well holding politicians accountable on their behalf.”

Richard Neville, Head of News Brands, said: “Local and regional reporting, particularly during the election period, has never had such an important role to play for communities across Scotland.

“Alongside significant investment in our data, audio and video journalism capabilities, we have a dedicated team of specialist experts ready to deliver high-quality, relevant, and engaging political storytelling, whenever, however and whenever our audience want it.”