Carles Puigdemont, the deposed Catalan leader, was one of the first guests on Alex Salmond’s new chat show but Johnston Press shareholders are not impressed with its Russian linksThe decision by Alex Salmond to host a weekly chat show on a Russian TV channel may cost him his chance of becoming chairman of the company that owns The Scotsman newspaper, according to its most senior manager. The former SNP leader was proposed as chairman of the board of Johnston Press by Christen Ager-Hanssen, who has built a 20 per cent shareholding. Some shareholders considering Mr Ager-Hanssen’s bid to take control say Mr Salmond is not suited to the role. They see his hosting of a chat show on RT, the renamed Russia Today, denounced as an arm of President Putin’s propaganda effort, as unhelpful. Ashley Highfield, Johnston Press chief executive, said: “The fact that Salmond seems to be in bed with the Russians…

Source: The Times November 20, 2017 00:05 UTC