I AM writing in relation to your coverage last week of the Wark Clements & Co annual accounts for the period May 2003-April 2004.
The prominence and nature of the coverage gave the impression of a company in deep financial trouble. As you know, Wark Clements merged with another Scottish-based company, Ideal World Productions, last May to create IWC Media. IWC Media now employs 120 people, 80 of them in Glasgow, and will file in the near future first-year accounts showing this new company to be financially very healthy.
Prior to the merger, Wark Clements did, indeed, incur the losses reported as part of the investment it made before the merger with Ideal World. These accounts are now more than a year old and a lot has happened since then. I am not suggesting that this should be ignored but surely there should be some sense of perspective and context.
IWC Media is a huge success story both in Scotland and the UK, now occupying the number-one slot in a recent survey of all regional independent production companies. We sell programmes to a huge range of UK broadcasters and export finished programmes globally. We are one of the few UK companies to achieve a significant commission in the US. It is a pity that The Herald did not see fit to dwell on this success, rather than mindlessly embracing the tabloid media's approach to all things Kirsty Wark - which your own Ian Bell so accurately described as "a blood sport".
Sue Oriel, managing director, IWC Media Ltd, 3-6 Kenrick Place, London.
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