Scotland thinks it’s neglected by the media? It should spare a thought for northern England
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Version 0 of 1. Perhaps the only group currently less popular in Scotland than Westminster politicians is the “Westminster” media. Many writers and broadcasters who have crossed the border to cover the referendum have been heckled and criticised, while Alex Salmond himself has endorsed street protests against the “biased” coverage of BBC political editor Nick Robinson. Scots are being asked to make a once-in-a-century (or more) choice based on minimal information from politicians, but journalists trying to prise answers from them – the job they’re paid to do – often face accusations of pro-union bias, or of a stitch-up against Scottish voters. The phenomenon is a particularly acute outpouring of longstanding resentment against the UK’s national media, which is based almost entirely in London, with (especially for newspapers) mere handfuls of reporters outside of the capital. Scotland, runs the reasoning, is the media’s unloved stepchild; while the minutiae of life in the south-east are painstakingly recorded, the national press only pays attention to Scottish happenings when the nation is seriously acting out – such as by threatening to depart the union, for example. The view that Britain’s press is London obsessed is well established, but does it have any merit? A dive into the archives reveals some stark results. Looking at the output of all the UK-wide daily and Sunday papers between 8 and 15 September (ie last week) reveals a total of 2,157 articles referencing “Scotland” – hardly a surprise in the week before such a momentous vote. The same week in 2013 saw a still quite sizeable 1,077 articles on Scotland, less than half of this year’s total. To get any sense of whether Scotland is under covered, of course, we need something to compare it with. Running the same queries for mentions of “England” – a country with a population almost 10 times greater than Scotland – results in 3,138 articles in the past week (and 3,196 in the same week in 2013). More, but not substantially more. Of course, the word England is at best a loose proxy for coverage of English issues, but serves at least to illustrate a comparison. Much more stark is looking for mentions of “London”: 4,158 articles in the past week mentioned the capital, as did 4,666 in the same week last year: far more mentions than Scotland, even in the week before a referendum. Wales, incidentally, was mentioned in around 860 pieces. The issue, perhaps, with the British media is not that it ignores Scotland at the expense of England, but that it focuses on London to the expense of everything else. To put it another way, London had one article in the national press for every 1,900 residents of the city. Scotland in the run-up to the referendum managed one article for every 2,318 Scots, while England merited one mention per 14,340 non-Londoners (though again, these may mention regions rather than the nation). However ignored Scotland feels by the national press, it’s by far from the worst affected – and there’s even a case to make suggesting it gets more extensive coverage than almost anywhere else outside the capital. The best comparison is maybe with Yorkshire. Like Scotland, Yorkshire folk often feel ignored by the national press: growing up, I would often hear complaints that an inch of flooding anywhere around London would lead every national bulletin, while half of Hebden Bridge could be under several feet of floodwater with nary a national mention. Conveniently, Yorkshire’s population is almost exactly the same as Scotland’s, but it receives nothing like so much coverage. Last week it was mentioned in 469 press articles, compared with 503 a year before – around one piece per 10,660 residents of the counties. The fix for the media is not necessarily a straightforward one: all of the UK’s biggest political events happen in London; the bulk of the arts scene is here, as are most of the largest businesses. The press pack tends to flock where the action is: the media focus on London is a mere symptom of a nation which has over-invested in its capital to the expense of its provinces. But Scots feeling neglected by the national press may want to reflect on the similarities they share with those south of the border: when it comes to press neglect, they’ve got quite a lot in common with northern England – but when it comes to getting attention, at least, they’re doing rather better. |