How do you feel about Journalists?
Question: How do you feel about journalists?
As usual, the questioning started with Scotland's 'national' media:
The one about anecdotal evidence got a sharp reply from the First Minister: We deal in evidence, not anecdote. The Guardian also got a swift reply: All privately owned care homes (85% in Scotland) have qualified nursing staff and also work closely with primary health care teams in the community. The question about taking a pay cut was just embarrassing: the SNP Government have not taken their full salaries since 2008. Only an eejit from down south wouldn't know that.
If you read these questions and think there's a slightly aggressive note to some of them, you're right. One journalist from 'down south' tried suggesting to Jeane Freeman one day that every action the Scottish government had tried had failed. He tried to slide that by her quite fast, but she caught him: distancing had not failed, the stay at home plan was working, Scotland had set up testing stations, PPE had been sourced, the Louisa Jordan hospital was open, etc.
At least most of the journalists were there on Wednesday. On the Sunday before, two Scottish newspapers either didn't send anyone along or their journalists just didn't bother turning up.
I only started listening to these press conferences a couple of weeks ago at the suggestion of one of my nephews, and it was a wee while before I got the hang of it: the main thing to remember is that journalists are not there to represent the Scottish people - whatever they may tell us. Just check the Herald's masthead for proof of that. They represent the newspapers that pay their wages and these are mostly owned by corporations, with bosses just about anywhere in the world.
Journalists have a lot in common with Unionist politicians. They are all finding it hard to adapt to a new world: they must look at social media and wonder at how many stupid, uneducated, ignorant people feel entitled to go online and express an opinion. And - amazingly - a lot of these stupid, uneducated etc people are actually pretty bright and express themselves well. Social media is awash with clever, witty blogs and FB pages written by people who didn't graduate from journalism courses at university or come up through the ranks of local newspapers. It was ever thus in Scotland: the smartest people have - shamefully - not always had access to a good education.
The internet has given people confidence - especially in Scotland, where it is frankly impossible for people who believe in Scottish independence to get a hearing or a viewing on any other platform. There are some pretty sharp observers of Scottish life writing on the internet but they haven't a hope in hell of getting space in what is laughingly called 'mainstream media'. And that means they can't exert the kind of influence that a lot of us want them to have in public life. Yet.
The worst thing to watch - for me - is journalists and unionist politicians simply refusing to acknowledge that the world has changed in just the last few months. Things won't go back to the way they were - and people like me don't want them to either. Scotland has changed and will go on changing. It's truly awful to hear people droning on about a Scotland that no longer exists, still quoting how Scotland would never survive on its own because the oil money is drying up with the coronavirus. As if nothing has happened.
Journalists - like unionist politicians - are about to be left behind in the changes that are to come. We can see it already, as people watch how well Scotland is handling the coronavirus crisis: despite the idiocy of a Chief Medical Officer who had to resign, despite being attached to Westminster for purely financial reasons, we are protecting ourselves and each other.
Would anyone look at our current situation and offer to change it for the fiasco down south?
On Facebook on Wednesday 23 April 2020, Gus Simpson
compiled this list of questions that were asked by journalists at the Scottish
Government daily Press Conference. The people they were questioning were the politicians and public health staff who have been working on our behalf for - what? - 5? 6? 8? - weeks now.
As usual, the questioning started with Scotland's 'national' media:
BBC - “Were you too
slow?”
STV - “Too little too late?”
BBC Radio Scotland - “Have we cancelled too many routine procedures?”
Daily Record - “You have bowed to pressure from the media...”
P&J - “Concern about PPE in care homes”
Then came the rest:
Press Association - asking the same question as Jackson Carlaw asked earlier in the day
The Telegraph - “Excess deaths - any anecdotal evidence as to why?
STV - “Too little too late?”
BBC Radio Scotland - “Have we cancelled too many routine procedures?”
Daily Record - “You have bowed to pressure from the media...”
P&J - “Concern about PPE in care homes”
The Herald - “Are care homes too slow to refer residents to hospital?” (A repeat question)
The Scotsman - “Will Scotland participate in a one-minute silence for NHS staff?”
The Courier - “Should we expect care home deaths to increase next week?”
Is it just a tradition that the BBC and STV are heard first? I can't say I wait with baited breath for their questions. More like I wait for them to get their bit over so they so we could get on with things.
The Telegraph - “Excess deaths - any anecdotal evidence as to why?
The Sun - “Surely you must regret not testing care
home arrivals. It looks reckless, doesn’t it?”
The Guardian - “What are you doing to have medically trained staff in care homes?”
The Times - “Hello there. Are Scottish care homes uniquely dangerous? And are you covering up for other failures?”
The Express - “Should you take a pay cut?”
The Guardian - “What are you doing to have medically trained staff in care homes?”
The Times - “Hello there. Are Scottish care homes uniquely dangerous? And are you covering up for other failures?”
The Express - “Should you take a pay cut?”
Daily Mail - “How many are likely to have been
infected?”
The one about anecdotal evidence got a sharp reply from the First Minister: We deal in evidence, not anecdote. The Guardian also got a swift reply: All privately owned care homes (85% in Scotland) have qualified nursing staff and also work closely with primary health care teams in the community. The question about taking a pay cut was just embarrassing: the SNP Government have not taken their full salaries since 2008. Only an eejit from down south wouldn't know that.
If you read these questions and think there's a slightly aggressive note to some of them, you're right. One journalist from 'down south' tried suggesting to Jeane Freeman one day that every action the Scottish government had tried had failed. He tried to slide that by her quite fast, but she caught him: distancing had not failed, the stay at home plan was working, Scotland had set up testing stations, PPE had been sourced, the Louisa Jordan hospital was open, etc.
At least most of the journalists were there on Wednesday. On the Sunday before, two Scottish newspapers either didn't send anyone along or their journalists just didn't bother turning up.
Journalists have a lot in common with Unionist politicians. They are all finding it hard to adapt to a new world: they must look at social media and wonder at how many stupid, uneducated, ignorant people feel entitled to go online and express an opinion. And - amazingly - a lot of these stupid, uneducated etc people are actually pretty bright and express themselves well. Social media is awash with clever, witty blogs and FB pages written by people who didn't graduate from journalism courses at university or come up through the ranks of local newspapers. It was ever thus in Scotland: the smartest people have - shamefully - not always had access to a good education.
The internet has given people confidence - especially in Scotland, where it is frankly impossible for people who believe in Scottish independence to get a hearing or a viewing on any other platform. There are some pretty sharp observers of Scottish life writing on the internet but they haven't a hope in hell of getting space in what is laughingly called 'mainstream media'. And that means they can't exert the kind of influence that a lot of us want them to have in public life. Yet.
The worst thing to watch - for me - is journalists and unionist politicians simply refusing to acknowledge that the world has changed in just the last few months. Things won't go back to the way they were - and people like me don't want them to either. Scotland has changed and will go on changing. It's truly awful to hear people droning on about a Scotland that no longer exists, still quoting how Scotland would never survive on its own because the oil money is drying up with the coronavirus. As if nothing has happened.
Journalists - like unionist politicians - are about to be left behind in the changes that are to come. We can see it already, as people watch how well Scotland is handling the coronavirus crisis: despite the idiocy of a Chief Medical Officer who had to resign, despite being attached to Westminster for purely financial reasons, we are protecting ourselves and each other.
Would anyone look at our current situation and offer to change it for the fiasco down south?
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