THE Scottish founder of the hugely-popular site Mediargh has died aged just 31.
Billy Dowling-Reid, from Edinburgh, quickly rose through the media ranks over the years having worked for the Scottish Government and Channel 4 before setting up Mediargh.
An independent project that was founded by Billy in July 2013, Mediargh quickly became the centre of all things related to working in the media industry, offering advice, resources and support to people who are interested in media production as a career path.
The site also hosts one of the UK’s most active media job boards and has been consistently regarded as one of the best media career resources by students, graduates, professionals, employers and educational establishments alike.
Sad to see this message when I checked the @mediargh website just now. As someone trying to break into the journalism industry, @BeeDeeArgh’s site helped me gain two job interviews over the past few months. RIP. pic.twitter.com/4nfKHslKAX
— Tom Sleeman (@TomSleeman11) May 5, 2018
Awful to hear about @BeeDeeArgh ‘s passing. @mediargh was such a brilliant, generous and selfless resource In a brutal job industry. <3
— Iain (@Hxrrinho) May 5, 2018
Very sad to hear of passing of @mediargh founder @BeeDeeArgh. An invaluable source for young journalists & was always passionate about the industry and making it accessible to everyone.
— Mark Pryde (@MarkPryde) May 5, 2018
We are incredibly sad to hear of the passing of @BeeDeeArgh, from @mediargh.
— Student Radio Assoc. (@SRA) May 5, 2018
Billy helped champion paid internships and gave us a lot of inspiration for the job posts that we share with our members.
He will be missed.
The site amasses 50,000 website visitors each week with 100,000-plus followers across social media.
It’s understood Billy broke the news of his ailing health on Twitter last week.
The news of his death was broken to users of the site on Friday with a short message.
It said: “Mediargh is no longer being updated due to the long-term illness and death of its founder. Mediargh will be under new management and continue in some form at a later date. Until then, keep tabs via Twitter: @mediargh.”
Billy had been diagnosed with leukaemia in 2015.
He documented his fight with the illness in an online blog.
Starting it in 2015, he wrote: “2015 started like a dream, ignoring the Hogmanay firework displays while I kissed the woman of my dreams on Portobello beach.
“But as that wonderful year came to its close, at 11am on the 30th of December, I was sat in a hospital office being told that I had just been diagnosed with an extremely aggressive and rare form of leukaemia.
SUCH sad news to hear about the passing of @mediargh's @BeeDeeArgh. Mediargh has been such an important and helpful resource for those in media. It was an absolute pleasure to contribute to the site. Billy was always so supportive of RT, which I appreciated so much. ❤️
— Faye Turnbull (@xfayex) May 5, 2018
Such sad news to hear about Billy. @BeeDeeArgh was a massive asset to all those looking to get into media - both young and old. My thoughts go out to his family. He will be missed. https://t.co/W9epJdfSci
— Aodhan Gregory (@AodhanMcGregor) May 5, 2018
@BeeDeeArgh RIP Billy. You've been an inspiration to us all. Sleep well
— Ian McMillan (@ian_millan) May 5, 2018
Bloody hell, just went on the @mediargh website to look for some jobs and discovered the founder has passed. Very very sad, RIP @BeeDeeArgh..Your website was so helpful to me and others. :(
— Robert (@Inmymindbob) May 5, 2018
“In 2016’s opening seconds, I was lying in a bed at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, looking out through the slits in the window blinds at the midnight fireworks displays across the city skyline while my body was being pumped with its very first round of chemotherapy drugs.
“Within weeks, I’d be told that I had a less than 5% chance of surviving.
“I was told that even if I did survive the initial treatment, there was an 80% chance of the cancer simply returning, as aggressive as ever.”
In his last post on August 22, 2016, he wrote: “In Part 3 I’ll be covering the second, slightly more eventful month of chemotherapy and the preparation for the bone marrow transplant. You can follow me on Twitter via @BeeDeeArgh for blog updates and the like, if you so wish.”
Tributes have flooded in for the young man, with many praising him for helping to launch the careers of countless people.
The Student Radio Association led tributes online, writing: “We are incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Billy Dowling-Reid from Mediargh.
“Billy helped champion paid internships and gave us a lot of inspiration for the job posts that we share with our members.
“He will be missed.”
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