You see Leonardo you are now commenting on something that you do not know about, you are not in Scotland and you are not I assume listening to BBC Scotland. One of the pieces you describe as propaganda is the Prof. who monitered the bias. another is the BBC giving air time to a YES item. The third is a real life surgeon talknig about the NHS that she works for. I'd love to see all this stuff that supports YES is this Welsh BBC? Are the Welsh presenting a different picture? You may find it difficult to believe in the good old Beeb being biased but there have been thousands demonstrating outside BBC headquarters on the Clyde about it. It is also a fact that the Political reporting of BBC Scotland is dominated from Political Editor down with Labour Party people. STV present a far more balanced case.
The bias is more to do with what is left out rather than what is reported, but the bias is very subtle as the Prof explains in the video I posted. The guy has done a study on what you are discussing.
One of my Sottish colleagues said something odd today. She believed that part of the deal to allow the vote was that it never happens again. Can anyone confirm this is the case or otherwise?
Very strong rumours in Westminster that devo max will follow a no vote so I think that may well be right.
I don't want devo max - just increased cost to give a 10% part of the UK even more. If they want independence let them go - if not - they stay on the same terms as we have here - we do not negotiate with terrorists - we should not negotiate with those propsing to break up the UK ( I am not trying to liken them to terrorists) You should not try to b"buy" their membership of the UK - they either want it or not
You forget - my brother who does live there describes the bias as about equal - his view is as valid as anyone you can trump up
I live here in Aberdeen, I see it as biased to yes in the media hence I try to keep away from media. Thought you were in Sussex spurf?
Promised concessions from the Tories? The best they have offered to date is "once the independence referendum has taken place “we can take a serious and considered look at a new spread of responsibilities within the UK" - that hardly constitutes a promise, more a typically vague reference to something that they may or may not concede. I have to admit that they are in an awkward position, albeit one of their own making. They make definite promises and many simply don't believe that they will keep them - history does have a habit of repeating itself. They don't make promises and they somehow expect voters to believe that they have a 'Plan B' - never mind a Plan A - strangely reminiscent of their own, repeated ad nauseum, catch cry against the SG, who they obviously believe have to 'show their hand' on every issue before the referendum, whilst not believing that they should have to do the same themselves. You are right about the bias claim, many people do tend to see bias against their own beliefs, but the fact does remain that all of national daily papers in Scotland favour the No vote - that simply cannot be denied. That, of course, is their right & if they wish to do so, so be it. BBC Scotland, on the other hand, have a supposed charter of impartiality, a charter that is being totally ignored - and given that they are totally funded by all Scottish TV licence holders, that simply should not be the case. I have no idea whether or not BBC Scotland is available elsewhere, but on line and on air, be it TV or radio, it is self evident that they take every opportunity to denigrate both the SG and the Yes campaign with words, actions and body language. They continually repeat much of the nonsense spouted by the likes of Gordon Brown, most of which has been proven to be nonsense, yet fail to make any mention of those who have proven him wrong. They still refer to Sir Ian Wood's accusation of the SG overestimating oil resources, even though he himself has since admitted he was wrong. They still hold up the Yes campaigners as violent louts, using the recent egg throwing incident against SLP's Jim Murphy as proof - totally ignoring the evidence that the incident was self-orchestrated. They fail to report on death threats made against Alex Salmond, fail to report on the elderly Yes canvasser who was knocked over and hospitalised, fail to report on the business premises showing Yes support having excrement smeared over door handles - the list is endless. Mind you, they are only crapping in their own nest - they'll be the first to go after the referendum is over.
Yes I can see BBC Scotland and watch it from time to time. My feeling seeing it as an outsider from a foreign country was that it was biased towards the Yes campaign. I am sure that if you are leaning one way you only wish to see the good news and when they show something one doesn't agree with you feel bias is coming into play. Reading comments from the web site they have been numerically even yes and no. What did surprise me was the number of people who didn't wish to live 'abroad' and talked about moving away despite having been born in Scotland. Also I was surprised that the number who wanted to stay both British and Scottish. I left England while we had Blair in power and am glad I chose a different life style and remember well the promises he made. At the end of the day he finished up leaving power behind, but the whole of the UK in a financial mess. Far too many hopes, too many suggestions that life would be better for all; just believe me and all will be well. It is not what additional powers the SG might get, but what sort of financial stability they could create with the power they already have.
Post 533 is Prof. John Robertson - Professor of Media Politics who has studied the BBC referendum coverage by monitoring it every day for a year and detected clear bias towards the NO campaign.
Region No Yes Borders 59% 41% Central 49% 51% Dunfries 70% 30% Grampian 55% 45% Highlands 50% 50% Lothian 58% 42% Strathclyde 50% 50% The above is the very latest polling in the regions. Why does Dunfries seem to be so against? Answer without spin please! It also seems that men are far more against the break up than women who are equally divided and the 16-18 year olds 57% say No and only 43% Yes
BB - you demonstrate the previous point - as a Yes voter you only notice pro No media - I too can access BBC Scotland - and have done so in recent weeks and they are typically BBC playing devils advocate AGAINST both Yes and No. As someone who thinks the UK ought not to be broken up on promises without adequate facts but equally as someone who hopes the Scots just go and stop whingeing against Westminster I feel I sit on the fence so see with a clearer view than you BB or Spurf who both are so prejudiced in favour of a Yes vote that nothing can persuade you and no argument can touch you. That is fair enough if your mind is made up - but you are certianly anything other than biased observers / participants
The danger of quoting stats in this manner is that, without also quoting the source, you may simply be promoting unsubstantiated figures. From which you will gather that I, and many others, simply distrust certain polling organisations.
From his own mouth: . Iâve never been a member of any political movement other than Amnesty International. Iâve marched against war and the illegal detention of asylum-seekers in a Scottish prison. Iâm a socialist, pacifist, feminist and anti-imperialist. The latter position inevitably means I do favour independence for Scotland, and for Catalunya, the Basque Region and so on but Iâm not a nationalist. Yep - so he is totally unbiased himself and we should take his work as gospel. Look at his other works - many of which look to find bias against his personal views. Sorry Spurf - this is why you should try creating an argument for Independence rather than trotting out propaganda from people who support the Yes cause.
He is an academic trying to produce a proper report. he tells you that because of that fact. Trying to create an argument, I thought I had done that.
I just read, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the Bank of England was set up many years ago and has benefitted all the people of Britain. Likewise oil from the North Sea has been developed at great cost to and for the British people as a whole. With independence I understand it is the stated wish that Scotland benefits from continued access to the Bank of England, while denying a similar access for the rest of Britain to the diminishing returns of their investment in the North Sea.
