Editorial / Merry Christmas and all the best for 2026
IT’S BEEN another busy yet rewarding year at Shetland News. Only last week we received news that both our full-time journalists Chris Cope and Ryan Nicolson have been nominated in different categories at the forthcoming Highlands and Islands media awards.
In addition, Shetland News has once again been shortlisted in the Website of the Year category.
In our submission for the website category, we listed some of our highlights in 2025:
- It’s 30 years ago that Shetland News first launched as an online news service
- Shetland News is one of very few news organisations able to operate without a paywall
- In 2025, Shetland News was awarded the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Scheme (LDRS) contract for third consecutive time
- Earlier this year, Shetland News introduced a more community-based approach to court reporting
- As part of the Power Shift project, Shetland News worked with nine other local and independent news organisations from across the country to explore the impact of the green energy transition on local communities.
While some of these may have little meaning to our readers, they matter to us and ultimately ensure that Shetland News will continue to produce relevant and reliable local news in 2026 and beyond.
While the interest in local news remains stronger in Shetland than in other places across Scotland and the UK, there is no denying that even here more and more people have started to switch off from local politics and public interest news.
That is not only bad news for us as a news organisation but, more importantly, is a worrying trend for island life and ultimately for local democracy.
If at all possible, we would like to reverse that trend.
The recent outcry over plans by SSEN Transmission to connect various energy generation projects is just one example of how important it is to keep up to date with local news.
Shetland News has been reporting on the energy transition ever since Viking was first mooted, and most of what was said during all those years is still accessible at www.shetnews.co.uk
And with another Scottish election just four and half months away, there is even more reason to keep up to date with the news. Shetland News will of course continue to bring you unbiased, accurate and up-to-date news.
But in a time of conspiracy theories and growing disengagement with local politics we would like to introduce new formats of debate that are not confrontational, but solution focussed. Watch this space.
Before we are all heading towards a well-deserved break from the news it is for me to say a big thank you to everybody in the team here that makes Shetland News possible, to our readers, advertisers, freelance contributors, to those who tip us off, and those who contact us directly with guidance, corrections and criticism.
It is all much appreciated.We can best be contacted by e-mail news@shetnews.co.uk, the contact form on our website or via direct message from our Facebook page.
Merry Christmas and all the best for 2026.
P.S. … and should you feel a little generous at this time of year, we could still do with a few more regular supporters. It helps keep Shetland News going and developing. You can sign up here.
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