ALEX Salmond met senior executives of Rupert Murdoch's media empire at the SNP conference, it has emerged.

The First Minister had talks with Guto Harri, the head of communications at News International (NI), David Dinsmore, NI director of operations, and Andy Harries, the editor of the Scottish Sun, on Friday evening.

Salmond has previously been criticised for being too close to Murdoch.

An SNP spokesman said: "Mr Salmond met representatives from a range of media organisations at the party conference."