Compare and contrast
We’ve noted before that it’s both naive and unreasonable to expect the BBC to be impartial with regard to Scottish independence. The Corporation has a direct vested interest in the status quo, partly financial and partly self-preservation. It’s important, when watching BBC Scotland in particular, to keep in mind that independence will mean the journalists, producers etc in question losing their jobs and careers.
(They would, of course, in theory be able to join any replacement state broadcaster, but it’s fair to say that many of them have already burned their bridges in that respect.)
If you think that’s a little paranoid, have a listen to these two short interviews by (we think) Auntie Beeb’s chief political correspondent Norman Smith, which are currently being looped on the BBC website in the absence of any developments in the meeting between Alex Salmond and David Cameron.
Interview with Nicola Sturgeon
Does the tone and content of the questioning strike you as fair and balanced? Or does one interviewee get, let’s say, a rather more sympathetic and less confrontational hearing than the other? We wouldn’t like to say. You call it.
I haven’t listened but I’ll say that Michael Moore gets an easy ride and Nicola Sturgeon gets the Guantanamo treatment.
Do I win a WoS mug?
Of course they get a different treatment, this is metropolitan arrogance at its very best/worst. His assertion that “when” the vote is lost, its all over for the SNP, they may as well pack up and disband, simply shows how out of touch the London media is with what is happening in Scotland. And long may that continue, as it can only help our cause.
The difference in tone and amount of respect afforded is quite obvious. But we expect that – it won’t change over the coming 2 years either. Have to say though if I was Nichola, I wouldn’t keep regurgitating Ecks “once ina generation” line from way back. If we lose in 2014, then this *isn’t* going on the back-burner for decades. Far from it. We’ll continue to agitate for another referendum at the next suitable opportunity, inside the next decade I’d say. If Eck and Nicola don’t see it that way, then the SNP will elect leaders who do.
Its not just the bias that is obvious when you listen to it (so you are indeed right rev), its the desperation to get comfort that it will NEVER happen again.
“Please Mr Moore, tell me that those nasty separatists wont scare me like this again…”
“Nicola Sturgeon, if the Union wins its all over fo you, the SNP may as well curl up and die… go on say it, say you wont try this again for at least 100 years… RULE BRITANNIA, BRITANNIA WAIVES THE RULES”
That sort of attitude tells me thay are worried, very worried.
@Tearlach
Its obvious when you look for it but how many people in the public would spot the fear and loathing in Glasvegas (Pacific Quay).
Michael Moore is a drone – this came across very well.
Nicola Sturgeon got more time and came across much better and covered about four times the ground that Moore was able too.
I find in encouraging that Nicola can sound so positive everytime that she has to answer the same questions – it would be driving me mad by now.
As for the BBC opening these news stories up to the rest of the UK population, will probably be good in the long term. Remember that there is a lack of choice in other parts of the UK. Red pill or Blue pill offers no choice. Scotland has a choice to do things differently.
The London media and Westminster see Scotland as a possession, to be patronized and put down. They are backed up by BBC Scotland and the unionist parties in Scotland, who doff the cap, are happy to pursue careers in London and generally don’t have confidence in themselves and their nation to survive. That this powerful group have and has completely lost the political agenda in Scotland, despite their frantic and unceasing efforts, surely must have been recognized by themselves. This is probably why the line that the SNP is finished if there is a No vote in the referendum is getting a hiring. Never mind that the future of any political party is determined by the electorate, just look at what happened to the Conservatives in Scotland after the Jam Tomorrow pledge in 1979. They are reduced to negativity and hatred. Make no mistake, this is a momentous day and era for Scotland, and one which we were never supposed to see.
The London media just doesn’t understand what is happening. They’ve ignored the fact devolution even happened, and I expect most journalists don’t really understand (and may not even realise) that Scotland has separate judicial, health and education systems – hence why we continue to be bombarded with news stories that mean absolutely nothing to Scotland.
So to them, the whole referendum business is a bit absurd. They don’t understand why we might not be happy with how things are, due to being protected from everything in their nice little London bubble. They believe what they’re told, that Scots don’t really want independence. As far as they’re concerned, this is some silly little SNP obsession that just has to be gotten over and done with.
And all this is part of why we’ll win. Independence is about far more than whether we’re richer or poorer in the union. These schisms highlight that there truly is a difference between Scotland and rUK. People are going to start noticing this. The more outlandish and crazed the unionists and “impartial” media get, the more it’s going to start jarring with people who don’t currently see it.
We’re going to win, simply because there is no reasonable argument that can be made against independence. The only thing that decides whether an area of land should be self-governing or not is if the people inside it want it to be so. Anything else is just hot air.
By the way, here’s a laugh – my uber-unionist mate tweeted me saying that the Secretary of State for Scotland was on BBC Breakfast and was making a pig’s ear of arguing for votes at 16. He said clowns like him were why Scotland would stay in the union, at which point I pointed out he is actually FOR the union.
I think that says it all for Michael Moore’s communication abilities…
Frederick Caledonia writes: “Have to say though if I was Nichola, I wouldn’t keep regurgitating Ecks “once ina generation” line from way back”
I get angrier every time I hear it, Frederick!
Doug Daniel
“I think that says it all for Michael Moore’s communication abilities…”
and Moore is backed up by David Mundell who lacks just as an articulate sense of direction as Johann Lamont.
I’m inclined to think that the “votes for teenagers” thing was intended to be sacrificial if need be. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that a 16-year-old’s vote is going to swing the referendum. There aren’t enough of them, and their vote is split anyway. I think Salmond genuinely believed it was the right thing to do, and it’s been party policy for a while. However, I really didn’t imagine for a second that he’d go to the wire on it if it jeopardised some more important part of the negotiations.
The fact that even that was conceded makes me feel he simply walked off with the lot, without even having to argue much.
Not just the above interviews are biased but I have just watched the signing of the agreement being reported on BBC News 24. The reporter set out a positive case for the union, but did not do so for independence. he then gave a negative portrait of Alex Salmond’s political ‘style’ then praised Alistair Darling’s and said Darling’s approach would be very popular. So, Day 1 and onwards, I think we can see the BBC are not going to rise to the occasion.
Good news folks.
The BBC is neutral, fair and balanced in ALL its political reporting.
No honest it is really, Would I lie to you?
Here’s the proof.
Question Time is coming from Easterhouse on Thursday and from what I understand three of the panellists will be, in no particular order of preference you understand:
Nicola Sturgeon.
Ruth Davidson.
Margaret Curran.
I guess they couldn’t figure out which rabbit bolt hole Lamont was hiding in.
Ferderick and Albamac: Guys this is only media talk, just listened to Nicola on BBC and she has just said that IF the vote goes against us then she will continue to argue for independence. I have been a nationalist for well over 40 years and IF there is a no vote I will continue the struggle and I know I will not be alone. Independence is what we seek and our cause will not disappear if we are unsuccessful this time.
However, let’s be positive, we have two years and right on our side. Hail Alba
If you think that piece from the BBC is bad, then imagine how much worse a piece in the Torygraph from Cockers would be like – added comments not any better.
Very good comment by Mad Jock McMad over on Newsnet, covers this quite well for me.
link to newsnetscotland.com
Pienaar’s Politics, 15th October
link to bbc.co.uk
Non-job Michael Moore is interviewed for a staggering 14 minutes. Derek Mackay responds as best he can in a measly 4 minute slot. And then Wally Bain turns up.
Hi Doug
“The London media just doesn’t understand what is happening. They’ve ignored the fact devolution even happened…”
I used to be employed in the comms department of a New Labour inner London council borough for three years. When I arrived there in 2008, from Scotland, I used to engage my ex-colleagues in political conversation and in particular my tuppence worth of commentary of what’s happening in Scotland. I didn’t let on I’m an SNP supporter. They assumed that being a Scot and with a newspaper background then I must have been Labour, so I was welcomed into the fold. My ex-colleagues were predominately in their 30s, all university educated, middle class comms ‘experts’ many with Westminster experience. And yet, through talk over a pint I realised that they knew virtually nothing of devolution or the Holyrood set up, didn’t know the SNP were in power in Scotland (this was 2008) and when the subject of the SNP was brought up it was met with guffaws and snortings of ‘loonies from Orkney… are they like the BNP?’. This was a real eye-opener for me from so-called professionals working within the realms of government. Out of about 40 people around three were switched onto the politics of Scotland, two are from north Yorkshire and the other from the West Country who had a stint as a researcher for Alan Johnson MP.
I made it clear to them at the time, that big changes were on the horizon because of the SNP win, the United Kingdom as it stands will change drastically one way or another. I was met with guffaws and chortles. I had left the council before the Scottish elections of 2011. Even though we have reached this moment in time and the referendum is now a real deal for the whole of the UK, these people in the London bubble are still very ignorant and unaware, they do have their heads in the sand thinking that Westminster will take care of things properly.
Bill C, I just wish that they’d ditch the ‘once in a generation’ nonsense. It is a form of appeasement that is wholly unnecessary and completely negative.
I have eighteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. It’s for them that I seek independence. I’m invigorated and delighted when I hear young people voice enthusiasm for a better life in a better country. What should I tell them if we fail in 2014? Try again when your 40 or 50, if you survive the aftermath?
I too expected the 16 & 17 year old votes to be a hard sell and likely dropped in negotiations if forced. Didn’t expect them to clean up so well! Either S_S really was onto something or Alex is a superb negotiator.
The BBC is a toilet. Nothing good to be found in there. The only think left is to flush it and be rid of the lot. Their writers nothing more than cheap political hacks on a par with propagandists in the old British, Soviet or Nazi empires. Lies and spin galore. Their sneering and lies are thankfully wearing thin up here, where it counts, even if they are akin to a comfort blanket for the Bitter Together support base and coffers. More and more the BBC/MSM is starting to look like the Daily Mail’s and other London media’s “best”.
@Appleby
Your post remained me of reading an article by Neal Ascherson a while ago. It was basically about the decline of British institutions in general. I think he said something like they have all hollowed out and today are just existing. In particular, I think the BBC has struggled since the emergence of satellite TV, digital channels, the development of quality American drama series, (ER, West Wing, The Wire etc) and European dramas, such as The Killing etc. I think it will become much more clear over the next few years how much the quality of journalism has declined. Andrew Marr, (who unfortunately has become a media darling and pillar of the British Establishment), wrote a book a few years ago about the decline of journalism and the media in general.
Sorry that this is off-topic but I’m hoping that the linked material will be of interest.
I’d been reading comments on Herald articles for quite some time without offering an opinion. Yesterday, having had a bellyful of bullshit from one Terry Kelly, I subscribed. Twenty-two hours later there was no sign of my comment, so I unsubscribed.
I’ve had bank loans approved in a couple of minutes, so having given them my name, address, postcode and date of birth I thought it unlikely that a single online comment would require such lengthy scrutiny. It may be that they didn’t like the content, but I’ll never know.
One of Kelly’s offerings called upon the ghost of Labour past to validate his usual crap, so I built a reply around passages taken from a couple of Nye Bevan’s speeches to the Commons.
They make very interesting reading and in the light of Labour’s recent activities they’re almost prophetic.
Weapons for Squalid and Trivial Ends
Resignation Speech
muttley79 @ 3:51 pm
Neil Ascherson’s article is here:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/pop-goes-britain's-morality.18076362
It exposes neoliberalism’s fcUKed state we’re in as a fractured mediaeval franchise. It ends that we might conclude: ‘Im a Scot. Get me out of here.’
Thoroughly recommend reading and relaying.
( Moderator: please delete my earlier post at 7:27pm, and this too if I’ve fcuked the format again! )
Hi Albamac
This is the Terry Kelly you speak of, a Labour cooncillur and serial Unionist UberTroll on the Herald website.
From Terry Kelly’s webshite… “I represent Ward 4 Paisley North West. I’m a Socialist who believes in equality, peace and the redistribution of wealth, I oppose Racism, Sexism, Sectarianism, Nationalism and any kind of discrimination. Best wishes for a Socialist future.” … then why in hell is he with the North British Orange Order loving Red Tories then?
link to councillorterrykelly.blogspot.co.uk
‘Councillor Terry Kelly’s blog rant attracts legal action’
A FUMING Lib Dem councillor has threatened to sue maverick Labour rival Terry Kelly over “offensive” claims in an online blog.
Eileen McCartin says the Paisley councillor has gone too far after saying Lib Dem members were “on the make and on the take”.
Councillor McCartin, a member of Paisley South West, said she has suffered internet abuse from Mr Kelly via his blog for years … but says his latest entry is libellous…
link to paisleydailyexpress.co.uk
Hi Dc,
Just visited his page. Jesus wept! Anyone who spends time there is a suitable case for treatment!
I came to a new conclusion last night. It’s not politicians who turn people off from politics, it’s the journalists!
There I was waiting to hear what Nicola Sturgeon had to say on Newsnight (England?) but Kirsty wark Talked over her three questions in a row.
Next up, Gordon Brewer on newsnight Scotland asks a question and when Derek MacKay is barely finished the first sentence of his answer Brewer is already talking over him.
It’s not the politicians that are the problem, it’s the Journalists.