The sale comes after a series of media deals

Readers and staff of papers including The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News are waiting to see what effect the sale has.

Professor Philip Schlesinger, director of the Stirling Media Research Institute at Stirling University, told BBC Scotland's news website offers his views on the move.

Johnston Press's purchase of The Scotsman titles has added to a widespread sense of disarray in Scotland's media scene.

It comes when job losses are mounting both in the press and in broadcasting and when concentration of ownership across the UK media is more and more apparent.

The Barclay brothers' sale brings to a close a turbulent 10-year period of ownership characterised by price wars, a rapid succession of editors at The Scotsman and well-publicised spats between Andrew Neil, publisher of The Scotsman papers and Andrew Jaspan, former editor of the Sunday Herald.

The Scotsman was one of the first British quality papers to downsize to a tabloid.

We can probably expect to see the notable devo-scepticism disappear under the new owners

Its managers recognised that newspaper-buying habits are changing.

Although we don't yet know whether this small is beautiful strategy will work, the broadsheet is becoming an anomaly.

It looks as though The Scotsman's west coast rival, The Herald, will soon tabloidise as well, a prospect that has reportedly led to the departure of its editor, Mark Douglas-Home.

Its sister paper, the Sunday Herald, has already gone tabloid.

Smart move

When Alex Salmond welcomed The Scotsman group's sale, he spoke for a large section of the political and bureaucratic class north of the border, who have resented its critical voice.

We can probably expect to see the notable devo-scepticism disappear under the new owners, who do not pursue controversial political agendas.

Johnston Press has made a smart move. It has steadily increased its regional newspaper holdings in recent years and is a now major UK group headquartered in Scotland.

The Scotsman group's staff have now joined an increasing list of those wondering about their futures

It has concentrated on its core business, with considerable success.

Its Scottishness means that it knows how to play the national card to best advantage in Edinburgh, as new owners of a group with a great patrimony.

The Scotsman group's staff have now joined an increasing list of those wondering about their futures in the Scottish media.

The Mirror Group plans to cut jobs at the Scottish Daily Mirror.

Scottish TV and Grampian TV, both owned by SMG, are cutting back on jobs as the regional public service obligations imposed by media regulator Ofcom are reduced.

And BBC Scotland faces its own cuts as the corporation retrenches and awaits the licence fee settlement.

Taken together, this begins to raise questions about the overall state of the media in Scotland.