Stornoway Gazette twitter hijacked

The Stornoway Gazette's social media accounts have been hijacked to display disparaging criticisms about the paper.

Messages posted on twitter on Monday evening said the publication was once a "proud broadsheet" but was now a "pretty dire newspaper all round" - apparently a reference to its halved circulation to just around 7,500 weekly copies in recent years plus staff cuts, transfer of advertising design to India, and centralisation of tasks in Edinburgh.

The twitter comments remain on its site suggesting the password has been changed and no-one can gain access to remove the embarrassing observations.

Earlier, insults appeared on the Johnston Press-owned paper's facebook page. It also suggested a journalist was fired. The post was deleted soon afterwards.

Its card shop on Francis Street is to close it was announced yesterday.

One journalist who is believed to have departed the paper on Monday after just ten weeks in the jobs suggested he may know the who was responsible.

He tweeted: "Will someone phone the police and say the Gazette is under attack"

He added: "It's true I had an argument with my editor but I don't know those tweets and I can't access them."

"I can confirm I did not leave those messages although I have an idea who did."

Johnson Press said an employee was the culprit.

A spokesperson said: "These things happen and we're dealing with it accordingly."

Stornoway Gazette twitter feed hijacked by rogue employee

3 November 2015