by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Recently, there have been calls among the online Yes community for a genuine alternative media in order to get the independence message out to a wider audience without the message being filtered through the mainstream Unionist media. I must say I heartily endorse these calls, because there is a crying need for our message to break through the mainstream barrier.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how this can be achieved in practice. There are many excellent websites and plenty of articles online, but the problem is that most of the people we need to persuade don’t pay any attention to them. Others have tried, and failed, to launch news reporting and analysis, but creating TV-like programmes is expensive, and there seems no way to break into the public consciousness. Even if some multi-millionaire decided to establish a TV channel which could broadcast into every home in Scotland, the big question is whether anyone would watch it. For example, how many of those who voted No in the IndyRef have ever read a copy of The National? These people simply aren’t interested in what they see as a biased nationalist agenda.

Something needs to be done, and I wish I had some suggestions, but we are up against a difficult mindset because far too many people still trust the BBC. I have had recent experience of trying to get the message across to one of these No voters who trotted out all the Unionist messages he’d heard on TV. He lives in the highest-taxed part of the UK; the NHS in Scotland is in crisis, as is Education; The Scottish Government is obsessed with independence; Scotland is too poor to be independent. I have tried and tried to get him to read some online articles which provide him with an alternative view, but he has steadfastly refused, claiming to be too busy to bother with stuff like that. He insists he is well-informed because he watches the BBC News, listens to BBC Radio Scotland and watches Question Time. The simple truth is that he does not want to hear any inconvenient facts which might upset his view of the UK. I’ll keep plugging away, but this attitude is all too prevalent amongst a great many in Scotland. They have grown up being taught that the BBC is impartial, and they have no interest in obtaining information from what they regard as little better than "Conspiracy Theory" websites.

It must be said, though, that the SNP really need to come up with some way of addressing this problem. During my discussion with this chap, he kept saying, "If you are right, why don’t I hear the SNP saying any of that?"

This is a good question. There is no doubt that the media distort and misrepresent anything the SNP say, but it is equally true that the SNP do not come out and combat the misrepresentations nearly strongly enough. They need to up their game on this, but they also need an unbiased platform where the message can be spread – and not in the format of a Party Political Broadcast. I just wish I knew how this could be achieved.