How the media shafted the people of Scotland

[Karmadillo]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/16/media-shafted-people-scotland-journalists

How the media shafted the people of Scotland
Journalists in their gilded circles are woefully out of touch with popular sentiment and shamefully slur any desire for change
George Monbiot
The Guardian, Tuesday 16 September 2014

Perhaps the most arresting fact about the Scottish referendum is this: that there is no newspaper – local, regional or national, English or Scottish – that supports independence except the Sunday Herald. The Scots who will vote yes have been almost without representation in the media.

There is nothing unusual about this. Change in any direction, except further over the brink of market fundamentalism and planetary destruction, requires the defiance of almost the entire battery of salaried opinion. What distinguishes the independence campaign is that it has continued to prosper despite this assault.

In the coverage of the referendum we see most of the pathologies of the corporate media. Here, for instance, you will find the unfounded generalisations with which less enlightened souls are characterised. In the Spectator, Simon Heffer maintains that: “addicted to welfare ... Scots embraced the something for nothing society”, objecting to the poll tax “because many of them felt that paying taxes ought to be the responsibility of someone else”.

Here is the condescension with which the dominant classes have always treated those they regard as inferior: their serfs, the poor, the Irish, Africans, anyone with whom they disagree. “What spoilt, selfish, childlike fools those Scots are ... They simply don’t have a clue how lucky they are,” sneered Melanie Reid in the Times. Here is the chronic inability to distinguish between a cause and a person: the referendum is widely portrayed as a vote about Alex Salmond, who is then monstered beyond recognition (a Telegraph editorial compared him to Robert Mugabe).

more...

[Octafish]

1. Thank you, Karmadillo! Monbiot is TOPS in every way.

Vital news and outstanding analysis.

“What spoilt, selfish, childlike fools those Scots are ... They simply don’t have a clue how lucky they are.”

FWIW: Corporate McPravda serves state and owners here the same as in Scotland.

[Todays_Illusion]

2. I appreciate this post, Melanie Reid sounds a lot like Mitt Romney or any U.S. Republican

and yes there is no news anywhere, only carefully crafted propaganda,
the tawdry and the worthless, and all that AOL/Yahoo kind of . . .


z

[davidpdx]

3. I was watching CNN's coverage of this the past day or so

and I thought I did see them hold up one paper that was supportive of independence.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Shafted? I thought the "yes" vote was winning all the polls?

and just how many people vote strictly based on their local newspaper endorsement??

If Monibot wants to criticize the op-ed boards of those papers, then he is free to do so and I understand his reasoning...Just spare me the bullshit dramatics about the "Yes" voters "having no representation", because they have gotten plenty of coverage in the news...If Monibot was accusing the newspapers of slanting their coverage, or shutting out the "Yes" side of the argument, that would be something else entirely...

[fbc]

5. Maybe no newspapers support it because it is a horrible idea?

Don't you people read Krugman?

recommended reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/opinion/paul-krugman-scots-what-the-heck.html

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/even-more-on-scotland/

In short, everything that has happened in Europe since 2009 or so has demonstrated that sharing a currency without sharing a government is very dangerous. In economics jargon, fiscal and banking integration are essential elements of an optimum currency area. And an independent Scotland using Britain’s pound would be in even worse shape than euro countries, which at least have some say in how the European Central Bank is run.

I find it mind-boggling that Scotland would consider going down this path after all that has happened in the last few years. If Scottish voters really believe that it’s safe to become a country without a currency, they have been badly misled.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Has Krugman never heard of the Czech Republic,

Moldolva, Kazakhstan, Republic of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Macedonia, et al? All of those countries gained independence or separated from a larger entity, and all have their own national currencies now.

[fbc]

7. that's his point

Scotland is staying on the British pound. He would not be warning of disaster if Scotland was going to move to its own currency.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. And yet, shortly after independence,

all of the former Soviet republics were still using the ruble-- they didn't immediately switch to their own currencies. Scotland could easily switch to its own currency at a later date if it does become independent and sticking with the British pound proves to be a "disaster".