WE NEED TO GET TOUGH ON THE MEDIA.

WE NEED A MUCH TOUGHER LINE WITH THE MEDIA.

We need to be realistic about the media. They are our enemy. The BBC for instance has a job to do. It has to deliver for the Union. We should be continually calling them out for doing so. We should describe them as being blatantly anti Scottish. Why? Because they are!

What do we gain by doing so? We highlight to other Scots that they are not to be trusted. We want Scots to regard them with total suspicion. What will they do if we start doing that? It will be hard for them to treat the prospect of Independence worse than they already do. Remember we are telling people aggressively they are agents of the British State. That they are disguising the true effects of Brexit in Scotland. Saying nothing about the scandal of energy overflowing Scotland being on the sharp end of horrific energy prices. Renewable powered Scotland. Did the wind double its price to us in the last year? Of course it didn’t. Nor did Hydro or the tide, nor did solar! We are on the end of another giant Better Together rip off! Energy could be a lot cheaper in an Independent Scotland. have you heard that said on the BBC or read it in the newspapers?

The dead tree press are no better. I was speaking at the SSRG Conference in Dunfermline last weekend ( and what a success that was) and I decided to speak about the differences in newspaper circulation that have happened since I first got involved in politics in the 1970’s. In those days the Daily Record sold 740.000 copies every morning. Today it sells fewer than 70,000 

In those days 86% of households bought a morning paper. Nowadays it is a tiny fraction of that. As those news outlets have diminished there has been a huge rise in the number of people who get their news and political opinions from social media sites such as this site and the others run by other pro Indy bloggers like Craig Murray, Grousebeater, Barrhead Boy, Grumpy and of course Wings. The difference of course is they are all pro Indy while only the National of the MSM claims to be pro Indy and that seems quite restricted by being virtually a one dimensional pro SNP publication.

I mention the above because it makes it all the more bizarre that the Scottish Government gifted £3 million pounds of taxpayers funds to the dead tree press, a gift that is rumoured to increase by a multiple in the near future. There is nowt more generous than financing your political opponents. These publications spend their time decrying Independence. They are biased against Scottish freedom and no amount of sucking up to them or handing them cash will change that. It may get the person handing over the cheque some personal political benefit but the cause of Scottish Independence will not gain in any form.

So I think far from financing them, the Independence support should repeat the tactics of the 1980’s. At that time newspaper readership was falling. Most publications had huge numbers of staff in comparison to today. Competition amongst them was at fever pitch as the decade went on. They fought for readers. Those of us seeking Independence used that competition to bring about a much more sympathetic editorial line. It reached its peak at the end of the decade. At the beginning of the decade many publications opposed any form of Home Rule. By the end virtually every “Scottish” publication supported devolution and the Sun went a step further and came out in favour of full Independence.

I was in the Sun offices that night, indeed I have a framed copy of the Sun front page signed by the editor at the time Bob Bird and the Political Editor Andy Collier. Jim SILLARS was also there as was Gil Paterson. Jim has just won the Govan By Election and Andy Collier was convinced the paper supporting Independence would bring the Sun lots of new readers. It did and it did not take the Sun long to replace the Daily Record thereafter as the paper selling the most weekday copies in Scotland. Eventually the Sun ended its support reputedly because  Prime Minister Tony Blair applied pressure on them to do so.

I tell this story because the MSM are in a much more vulnerable position today that they were then. They are now publishing around only 10% of the copies they produced in their heydays. Their finances are reputedly precarious. They are vulnerable. A boycott campaign that was even only moderately successful could have an enormous impact.

Now I am not arguing that every publication should support Independence but I am arguing that they should all respect the views of at least 50% of Scotland and report news and politics minus the bias against Independence in their reporting. There should be no future for publications that are blatantly biased in favour of Westminster at Scottish expense. We want to know the truth about Brexit. We want the energy rip off exposed in energy rich Scotland. We want to read about Scotland’s Food and Drinks Industry that contributes huge billions to the economy while England is the largest food importer in Europe. Where are those stories today?

Above all we demand fairness. I get so angry when I witness some of the coverage in Scotland. The lies of omission to prevent balance, the acceptance of propaganda lies and their promotion. Who can forget the mythical Scotland No Borders Campaign from the 2014 Referendum? A limited company registered in London with no membership in Scotland presented in the Scottish media, particularly BBC Scotland as this widespread “grassroots” organisation against Independence and afforded top billing on every platform with its anti Independence message as the top item on the news. Such deceit is unforgivable.

So I think we need to stop fearing what the media might say about us. I think that needs to be transformed, as it was in the 1980’s, and for them to worry about what we have to say about them.

Yes I know it’s confrontational but if there was ever a Independence Movement that needed more confrontation to put some life into it then it is the Independence Movement in Scotland. I am interested in people’s views on this. Please share and discuss.

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND.

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