by Rab Bruce’s Spider

I was fortunate enough to attend a meeting arranged by Yes Perth yesterday. The room was packed as we listened to an excellent talk by David Hooks (aka @PoliticsScot) on the subject of the Scottish media. This was followed by some great discussion as questions and suggestions were put forward by a very engaged and politically aware audience. I think most of us came away with a positive feeling and some excellent ideas for how to challenge the media narrative.

Reframing the arguments to force people to make the case for the Union instead of us having to defend the case for independence was very much the big idea to take away from the evening.

There was, I believe, also an acceptance that we will not be able to alter the way the media, and in particular the BBC, operates. We cannot prevent them getting their message out, but we can help fight that message.

One way we can do this is to contribute towards the various pro-Indy media sites which are always in need of financial support. I still pay my TV licence because, although I don’t watch much TV myself, other members of my household do. Also, there are still a handful of good programmes on the BBC. I do enjoy some of the comedy panel shows, and their nature documentaries remain world class. It is the News output I refuse to watch. Yet I can’t dictate that my licence fee is only used to fund certain programmes, so my own solution is to make sure I donate an equivalent amount of money to the various pro-Indy media sites over the course of the year. That way, I reckon I’m giving more to pro-Indy news than to BBC news.

Of course, everyone needs to find their own solutions. Some people are well suited to having one to one conversations and using gentle persuasion; others can help spread the word through public events or writing blogs; many will make the effort to attend marches and demonstrations. It is all part of the campaign which will be won by the grass roots because the only way we can tackle the mainstream media message is by making our own message highly visible and audible.

Keeping in touch and sharing ideas is also important, so I’m glad I was able to get to Perth yesterday. Thanks to William Duguid for arranging the meeting and to everyone who attended. It was nice to escape the online world for once and find a group of like-minded and very real people. Hope to see you all again soon.