stewartb

There is endless evidence of bias by omission being shown by the corporate media and in particular by the so-called ‘public service broadcaster’ in Scotland. As another example, how much media coverage did the following receive?

The Scottish Government published this report on May 31: ‘All Learners in Scotland Matter: Our National Discussion on Education’. The summary report can be found here https://www.gov.scot/publications/learners-scotland-matter-national-discussion-summary-report/pages/2/

Given the importance of education, the report’s forward looking focus, the substantial level of public engagement across Scotland (including with young people) involved in its production and the independent academic authors surely, this merits substantial media coverage by journalists employed to cover education policy matters!

From the summary report, for information: ‘The report is based on the findings of a listening exercise which took place between September 21 and December 5 2022. 

‘The National Discussion was established in response to Professor Ken Muir’s report Putting Learners at the Centre which recommended that a national discussion take place to establish a compelling and consensual vision for the future of Scottish education. There was a particular the importance of placing the learner at the centre of all decisions. 

‘The National Discussion was co-convened by the Scottish Government and COSLA and it was independently facilitated by Professor Carol Campbell and Professor Alma Harris who are members of the Independent Council of Education Advisors. They consulted more than a hundred organisations dedicated to supporting children and young people as well as education partners and parent and carer groups in designing the National Discussion. The grassroots approach they adopted led to an estimated 38,000 people being reached by the National Discussion. 

‘A summary of the engagement is as follows:  
– events and discussions took place in every part of Scotland, from Shetland to the Borders, led by schools, community groups, local authorities and third sector organisations

– feedback was received in a host of different ways – including drawings, mindmaps and videos 

– more than 5,600 survey and email responses were received
over 200 group responses were submitted 

– 26,000 pupils and students attended online school assemblies 

– more than 80 people attended a series of online public events 

– more than 6,000 posts on Twitter about the National Discussion using the hashtag #TalkScottishEducation.

‘Next Steps: The Scottish Government and COSLA will consider the report from Professors Campbell and Harris and work to ensure that the vision for Scottish education is realised for all learners.’

The news media in a (normal) independent country would surely find such a degree of national engagement on something as important as the future of school education a ‘good thing’, something worthy of substantial attention.

It seems that much of Scotland’s news media only view education (and other public policy matters) as worthy of attention when their gaslighting objectives can be advanced.