A MYSTERIOUS new Scottish media venture promising hundreds of jobs in the sector has begun taking on staff, the Sunday Herald has learned.

Scottish News says on its website it is an “exciting, dynamic new media brand” and that it hopes to become “the UK’s largest multimedia platform defining the future of Scottish news”. Little is known about its funding and resources, but the firm is linked to a Paisley-based businessman, John Wyllie, who has a number of criminal convictions.

According to its website, the venture will launch this month. Its promise of up to 800 jobs took the industry by surprise in January of this year, and little has been unearthed about it so far. Job creation on this scale would mean staff resources at Scottish News would exceed big broadcasters like BBC Scotland and STV.

The Sunday Herald has learned that job offers have now been made to applicants after an interview process took place at a Glasgow city centre venue in St Vincent Street – often booked by businesses to hold conferences and seminars – and staff are expected to start work at the end of the month.

One new staff member told the Sunday Herald: “I got a call a couple of weeks ago saying that they were going to take me on in the position of digital journalist. I’m supposed to be starting on April 30 so I’m just waiting on them sending the contract and other documentation through to me to sign off. It’s a bit unreal to be honest. It’s exciting.

“There was about 11 or 12 of us there [at the interview] and they were having another round of interviews after we left. That was just in the one day and I imagine they’re carrying out even more interviews.”

However, secrecy still surrounds the details of the enterprise.

“I’m not sure of the exact location yet because they’re still finalising the lease, but they were saying it’s going to be somewhere in the city centre. I imagine it will be near the BBC but there was also talk it could be somewhere close to Central Station.

“I know we’ll be based in Glasgow city centre; they’re wanting to have it in every major town in Scotland, but as it’s just starting just now it will initially be in Glasgow.”

The Sunday Herald understands that no editorial staff or senior executives were present at the interviews, only HR staff.

One of the interviewers, Jamie Pringle, declined to be interviewed about the project or provide any further information.

The Sunday Herald contacted Wyllie for more information but received no response.

Wyllie was handed a 10-month prison sentence after targeting two former partners between 2010 and 2014. One of the women was headbutted by him and another threatened with a baseball bat. He also has previous convictions for embezzlement.

Wyllie is listed as the sole director of Scottish News and he has held directorships in a string of other firms linked to the same address in Paisley, including one named Paisley Herald Limited which was incorporated three months before Scottish News.

Dominic Bascombe of NUJ Scotland said: “They [Scottish News] have not made contact with us in any kind of official or unofficial capacity. There’s no request for assistance from us in terms of helping them with recruiting or staffing levels. It is concerning that they’re trying to operate a venture that size without involving the national union.”