DURING Nicola Sturgeon ’s resignation speech, she highlighted the “brutality” of contemporary political discourse and how it contributed to her decision to step down.
As such, one could be forgiven for thinking that the media might have taken a step back and considered whether their reporting on the First Minister’s exit was rational and appropriately balanced with pro-independence voices.
Predictably, that has not been the case.
Decapitation cartoon
In a rather vivid portrayal of the aforementioned “brutality” of political discourse, the Independent’s political cartoon shows a beheaded Nicola Sturgeon.
Cartoonist Dave Brown depicted the First Minister in full Highland regalia playing the bagpipes in the middle of a glen, accompanied only by her own severed head.
It would appear that pleas for the UK media not to contribute to a culture of violence against politicians are being ignored by some outlets.
Nicola Sturgeon resigns as Scottish FM & out come the cliches & stereotypes of Scotland. We get tartanry, bagpipes, hills & glens. Along with the portrayal of violence towards women in public life. Below from Dave Brown & Patrick Blower. pic.twitter.com/QKv0wDBtgC
— Gerry Hassan 🇺🇦 (@GerryHassan) February 15, 2023
Nicole Sturgeon
After eight years as First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon might well have thought that the BBC would be capable of remembering her name.
Unfortunately, judging by the description of the Jeremy Vine show on the BBC Sounds app, this is not the case.
It read: “Nicole Sturgeon and love bombing”. Evidently, the “love bombing” is not in reference to the First Minister.
Ruth Wishart (definitely not a columnist for The National)
This week’s episode of Question Time will no doubt pour over the political situation in the aftermath of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation.
Alongside Labour MP Stephen Kinnock and Tory minister Robert Jenrick, three journalists will also appear on the programme.
They are Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver, and the National’s own columnist Ruth Wishart.
Unfortunately, the BBC decided to ignore Wishart’s weekly musings in the Sunday National and described her simply as a “Scottish journalist and broadcaster” who “has written for The Scotsman, The Herald, and The Guardian.”
Openly pointing out that a journalist writes for a pro-independence newspaper clearly violates the BBC’s impartiality policies…
Lesley Riddoch on the BBC
In order to balance out the views of former Scotland editor and columnist for The Daily Telegraph Alan Cochrane on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2, the BBC invited on another of the National’s columnists: Lesley Riddoch.
And it’s a good thing they did because Cochrane’s views about independence, including calling the SNP’s upcoming special conference “stupid”, were certainly in need of challenging.
When asked whether he thought Sturgeon’s exit was a blow to the independence cause Cochrane said: “It’s a blow to a party that was already suffering from a sharp reduction in its support.
“The independence argument was going nowhere anyway and it won’t be helped by Nicola’s departure. She’s leaving the party in a terrible mess.”
When Vine asked Riddoch if she felt this assessment was correct she answered:
“No. The fact that we’re actually having a discussion about the Scottish story for two days running – not being funny, on the BBC – is actually quite extraordinary. She was that large a figure.
“But what’s starting to happen is that most people, unionist opponents included, are praising Nicola Sturgeon and trying to bury independence and that actually isn’t going to follow.
“Because those of us that are committed to independence. It’s not a wee teenage phase. We’re not going back in the box. There will be a new leader found and we will have to try and circumvent the incredible obstacles that have been put in place by the Westminster government.”
Next time, perhaps, the BBC shouldn’t just leave it up to Riddoch to combat any rampant disinformation about the independence movement being dead.
Have we missed any? Let us know
