Tory councillor illustrates why we should let established newspapers die

I’d just finished writing: ‘Nothing is ever all bad as coronavirus purges our media’: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/04/19/nothing-is-ever-all-bad-as-coronavirus-purges-our-media/ when I spotted the above.

Maybe I should just re-write but it’s easier and more fun to focus on this one.

John McLellan, Conservative and Unionist councillor and regular in the Herald and the Scotsman, illustrates so well why they’re getting nothing from me and why they better not get anything from my taxes.

McLellan is a real establishment figure:

‘John McLellan has been a City of Edinburgh Conservative councillor since 2017 and was director of communications for the Scottish Conservatives in 2012-13. He has edited The Scotsman, the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday and is currently director of the Scottish Newspaper Society’

Perhaps too scary to mention, he has also served as a member of the Government’s Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee (https://www.scotns.org.uk/about/).

There is also Scotsman regular, former Tory MSP, now Brexit Party MEP, but based in France, Brian Monteith.

Then there’s former New Labour minister for something or other under Tony Blair and frothing SNP-hater, Brian Wilson.

Then there’s Labour speech writer, Gina Davidson…..

Some free press eh?

10 thoughts on “Tory councillor illustrates why we should let established newspapers die”

  1. “Why News Papers Need Support -From The Public and The Government”

    Because people like John McLellan, all of the above, David Leask, Mark Smith, Iain MacWhirter and Danni Garivelli scribble for them.

    Liked by 3 people

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  2. I bought the Scotsman for two decades, from about 1970 onwards. It was, at that time, a “newspaper of record”–which meant it was required to have a high degree of accuracy. No one could say that now.
    Every owner of the Scotsman looted its assets, until now it is a decrepit, British nationalist propaganda outlet, which cannot be trusted to accurately state which day of the week it is.

    But the Scotsman is just one of many newspapers (Herald, Record, Mail, Times, Telegraph, Express etc ) which report on Scottish issues, with a set of different “journalistic” standards (some would say , no standards at all ) than it does with English issues. This makes them, not reporters of news, but political propaganda outlets. They should not, MUST not receive taxpayer funding for the promotion of British nationalist advocacy.

    There is not one single newspaper in Scotland which is either politically neutral, or has a pro-independence editorial line (including the National ).
    This is a disgrace in a so-called democracy, where half of the population are supporters of Scottish independence..

    Liked by 4 people

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  3. Yes whole heartedly agree but you can just imagine the headlines if state aid is refused something to the order of ”Sturgeon using Pandemic to suppress free speech’ or words to that affect.

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. Is there someone with the ability to crowdfund and run an alternative to the National, using some or allof their reporters? “Yes” could be the title.

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  5. They wonder why they are helped in contempt.

    Developing a modicum of self awareness and business acumen would be a good start to redemption

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  6. Taiwan offers an innovative way to increase democratic decision making using digital sources. Is this transferable to Scotland?

    “Citizens help select the projects on Taiwan’s government-run “Join” e-democracy platform, which has so far hosted more than 10 million unique visitors, using a sophisticated system called quadratic voting. Each person has 99 points to award to their favorite projects based on their preferences, resulting in a more “fair, balanced, and … pro-social” outcome because it more fully captures people’s choices, Ms. Tang says…

    In this way, Taiwan’s government invites change from the inside out, through transparency, open data, and involvement of the public in solving national problems. Challenges such as bureaucratic resistance and civil servants preferring anonymity are real, Ms. Tang says, but President Tsai’s commitment to act on the grassroots projects helps overcome them.

    From the outside in, meanwhile, Taiwan’s civic technology community takes the initiative to improve and demystify government, and organize debates on key issues. A movement called g0v, or “gov-zero” – made up of coders, NGOs, and civil servants – clones government websites and builds better versions, which the government often adopts. It also runs a forum called vTaiwan that has facilitated debate on dozens of heated issues, from Uber regulation to online liquor sales – often shaping government policy.

    vTaiwan uses a tool created by the Seattle-based nonprofit Pol.is that applies machine learning to help large groups achieve consensus through civil debate. A key feature keeping the debate constructive is that everyone must offer ideas by posting comments. Others can click “agree” “disagree” or “pass” on these ideas, but there is no “reply” function – a practice that invites trolling. As the debate unfolds, Pol.is creates an interactive map grouping people according to viewpoints and showing areas of agreement.”

    Kill Papers

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