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| Scottish independence: why is the media under attack? | Scottish independence: why is the media under attack? |
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| For TV reporter Tom Bradby it’s worse than Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, for Guardian columnist George Monbiot the Scottish referendum has shown the entire British media as “just one chamber of the corrupt heart of Britain”. We may be used to politics becoming impassioned just ahead of an important vote in this country; what seems unusual this time is the extent to which journalists have been tarred with the same brush as the political elites in Westminster and the City. | For TV reporter Tom Bradby it’s worse than Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, for Guardian columnist George Monbiot the Scottish referendum has shown the entire British media as “just one chamber of the corrupt heart of Britain”. We may be used to politics becoming impassioned just ahead of an important vote in this country; what seems unusual this time is the extent to which journalists have been tarred with the same brush as the political elites in Westminster and the City. |
| With news organisations such as the Scotsman ramping up security measures and the NUJ reporting increasing levels of abuse and intolerance on the ground as the referendum gets closer, it is hard to remember another British vote where the messenger was under so much fire. Protesters marched on BBC Scotland waving huge banners emblazoned with the face of political editor Nick Robinson rather than any politician when they disagreed with him over an interview with SNP leader Alex Salmond. Robinson is one of several broadcast journalists using enhanced security in the runup to Thursday’s vote. | With news organisations such as the Scotsman ramping up security measures and the NUJ reporting increasing levels of abuse and intolerance on the ground as the referendum gets closer, it is hard to remember another British vote where the messenger was under so much fire. Protesters marched on BBC Scotland waving huge banners emblazoned with the face of political editor Nick Robinson rather than any politician when they disagreed with him over an interview with SNP leader Alex Salmond. Robinson is one of several broadcast journalists using enhanced security in the runup to Thursday’s vote. |
| When so many journalists are lumped in with David Cameron and the rest of Westminster it seems fair to ask what’s going on. Is the opprobrium being displayed by the electorate a symptom of alienation – defined as the rejection of social institutions and processes – or something else entirely? | When so many journalists are lumped in with David Cameron and the rest of Westminster it seems fair to ask what’s going on. Is the opprobrium being displayed by the electorate a symptom of alienation – defined as the rejection of social institutions and processes – or something else entirely? |
| It seems too simplistic to suggest that all the antagonism has come from the nationalist wing of the debate although that is what Bradby, a former ITN royal reporter, suggested in a blog for the ITV website that was reprinted in the Daily Mail, a paper that has dubbed the SNP the “Seriously Nasty Party”. | |
| The march on BBC Scotland to protest against Robinson’s allegedly biased reporting of the nationalist cause was “frankly rather sinister”, he wrote. “Those in Scotland who are quick to abuse and see bias around every corner might want to think about the face they are showing the world.” | The march on BBC Scotland to protest against Robinson’s allegedly biased reporting of the nationalist cause was “frankly rather sinister”, he wrote. “Those in Scotland who are quick to abuse and see bias around every corner might want to think about the face they are showing the world.” |
| One journalist said he had been told that some of the most vocal protesters hailed from anarchist groups and anti-tax campaigners, under the yes campaign umbrella in the same way those who took part in some Occupy protests were. Given the nature of the referendum those who back a move away from the UK are more likely to show signs of antipathy towards a London-based elite. Yet this referendum could also be the first sign that the collapse of the local newspaper and broadcasting industries has led to a democratic deficit in which the electorate feel antagonistic not just to the people they are voting for but the people who are meant to hold such power to account. | One journalist said he had been told that some of the most vocal protesters hailed from anarchist groups and anti-tax campaigners, under the yes campaign umbrella in the same way those who took part in some Occupy protests were. Given the nature of the referendum those who back a move away from the UK are more likely to show signs of antipathy towards a London-based elite. Yet this referendum could also be the first sign that the collapse of the local newspaper and broadcasting industries has led to a democratic deficit in which the electorate feel antagonistic not just to the people they are voting for but the people who are meant to hold such power to account. |
| Yet journalists on the ground suggest that not all the abuse is due to an editorial line or position. Several reporters say they feel the abuse was directed not at anything they had written or said but simply who they worked for. They, or their London-based employers, are being called scum by people who aren’t able to quote the view of this week’s leader column. | Yet journalists on the ground suggest that not all the abuse is due to an editorial line or position. Several reporters say they feel the abuse was directed not at anything they had written or said but simply who they worked for. They, or their London-based employers, are being called scum by people who aren’t able to quote the view of this week’s leader column. |
| That’s not to say that some of the most vitriolic opinion hasn’t been anti-SNP, whether it’s Melanie Reid in the Times saying the “selfish Scots don’t know how lucky they are,” or the Telegraph column comparing Salmond to a dictator. Focusing on vocal nationalists ignores the fact that there has been mistrust and abuse on both sides. Indeed, the only journalist to actually file a complaint to the police so far is a blogger who wrote in favour of the yes campaign online, according to the NUJ. | That’s not to say that some of the most vitriolic opinion hasn’t been anti-SNP, whether it’s Melanie Reid in the Times saying the “selfish Scots don’t know how lucky they are,” or the Telegraph column comparing Salmond to a dictator. Focusing on vocal nationalists ignores the fact that there has been mistrust and abuse on both sides. Indeed, the only journalist to actually file a complaint to the police so far is a blogger who wrote in favour of the yes campaign online, according to the NUJ. |
| Paul Holleran, the NUJ’s Scottish regional organiser, says “abuse and intolerance” has been in evidence across the political spectrum. “Robust debate is fine,” he adds. “Pointing out when journalists get their facts wrong is expected and welcomed. But NUJ members believe in a free press, a fair media, with journalists allowed to do their jobs free of intimidation.” | Paul Holleran, the NUJ’s Scottish regional organiser, says “abuse and intolerance” has been in evidence across the political spectrum. “Robust debate is fine,” he adds. “Pointing out when journalists get their facts wrong is expected and welcomed. But NUJ members believe in a free press, a fair media, with journalists allowed to do their jobs free of intimidation.” |
| Monbiot argued in his Guardian column “How the media shafted the people of Scotland” that the fact that just one paper, the Sunday Herald, is backing the yes campaign underlines the fact that the media is out of touch, or rather “detached and complacent”. | Monbiot argued in his Guardian column “How the media shafted the people of Scotland” that the fact that just one paper, the Sunday Herald, is backing the yes campaign underlines the fact that the media is out of touch, or rather “detached and complacent”. |
| This is denied by Raymond Boyle, professor of communications at Glasgow University’s Centre for Cultural Policy Research, who says the media have run opinion pieces from both sides despite finally coming down (often marginally) on the side of no. | This is denied by Raymond Boyle, professor of communications at Glasgow University’s Centre for Cultural Policy Research, who says the media have run opinion pieces from both sides despite finally coming down (often marginally) on the side of no. |
| While all the nationals’ leader writers may have backed the union, several papers, including the Guardian, have published opinion from both sides and attempted to report from across the national divide. | While all the nationals’ leader writers may have backed the union, several papers, including the Guardian, have published opinion from both sides and attempted to report from across the national divide. |
| It’s too simplistic to look at the decline in regional newspaper sales for the whole answer during a heated referendum debate but it seems as good a time as any to check how bad things are. There are more than 370 paid-for weekly newspapers in the UK but most now opt to be audited only once a year, according to Press Gazette. More than 100 have withdrawn from ABC auditing altogether over the last year. Dailies are doing just as badly, down 13.5 % in the half year. | It’s too simplistic to look at the decline in regional newspaper sales for the whole answer during a heated referendum debate but it seems as good a time as any to check how bad things are. There are more than 370 paid-for weekly newspapers in the UK but most now opt to be audited only once a year, according to Press Gazette. More than 100 have withdrawn from ABC auditing altogether over the last year. Dailies are doing just as badly, down 13.5 % in the half year. |
| Apart from the success of the one local paper that not only turned into a freesheet but is based, of course, in London the only regional daily/Sunday to grow sales year on year was the Sunday Herald, up 1% year on year to an average of 25,125 copies a week. The Sunday Herald became the first Scottish newspaper to back the yes campaign at the beginning of May. | Apart from the success of the one local paper that not only turned into a freesheet but is based, of course, in London the only regional daily/Sunday to grow sales year on year was the Sunday Herald, up 1% year on year to an average of 25,125 copies a week. The Sunday Herald became the first Scottish newspaper to back the yes campaign at the beginning of May. |
| Yet Boyle points to the importance of political bloggers such as Ian Macwhirter and Joyce Macmillan for enhancing debate over the past two years and says that “media has historically been a relatively easy scapegoat” when polls get closer. | Yet Boyle points to the importance of political bloggers such as Ian Macwhirter and Joyce Macmillan for enhancing debate over the past two years and says that “media has historically been a relatively easy scapegoat” when polls get closer. |
| It is perhaps ironic that the most vocal signs of alienation from a London-based media should come from the part of the UK with the most developed “national” outlets of its own, yet the evidence suggests that appearing to be different from London-dominated rivals can only be an advantage. | It is perhaps ironic that the most vocal signs of alienation from a London-based media should come from the part of the UK with the most developed “national” outlets of its own, yet the evidence suggests that appearing to be different from London-dominated rivals can only be an advantage. |