Highs and Lows of Holyrood11’s Media Circus

The election is by no means over (a Kinnock beach moment could happen to Big Eck or Wee Paddy at any moment) but it seems a good time for a quick recap on the winners and losers of the campaign so far. Some highlights and lowlights from the campaign so far…

1. Massive media fail for The Scotsman – who managed to publish this piece by Archie Stirling, a man who isn’t even standing in this election, while ignoring others. Bizarre, useless journalism on a heroic scale of shitness.

2. Shona McAlpine’s Scottish Independence Convention Blog – possibly the most thieved-upon site of the campaign…an eclectic blend of open voices featuring *shock horror* lots of women writers! Other blogs should follow the lead (Ed – okay maybe not in design).

3. The New Statesman. In the past six months the mag has published nary a peep about fair Scotia. Managed a paragraph last week by Kevin Maguire about the fact that Charles Kennedy had replaced Nick Clegg in leaflets ‘Fag-Ash Charlie’ north of Chichester (whatascoop! Nick Clegg is unpopular and Charles Kennedy smokes – haud the front page!).

4. Better Nation – despite a sometimes irritating reasonableness this new group blog is leading the way (as perhaps best exemplified by Jeff Bresslin’s demolition of Poor Tavish right here. )

5. Andrew Marr. Oh dear. As Kenneth Roy asks here: ‘How Can Andrew Marr Be Taken Seriously Again?’ Again? On the not-so-plus-side Alf Young does somewhat miss the mark with this dismissal of the campaign.

6. The arrival of the Gaelic Bloggosphere Abair feasgair breàgha – Apur fes-gur bree-ah and a míle other inappropriate RT’s a go-go.

7. Take 5 – Away begone election bores! Supremely collaborative stuff has emerged for those of us deeply bored by electoral ****. And yes this does contradict No. 5. Take for example just these sources of collective juicieness …  New Media ScotlandKiltrSNP StudiosThis is Central Station – and 38minutes

8. Live Events – ‘all this online inaction is so much shite’ as one helpful comment sagely put it. So log-off – bugger the Royal Wedding and enjoy the Scottish Left Review’s Off with Their Heads (‘Your Antidote to the Royal Wedding ‘) in Glasgow and – shortly after – Unholyrood – an evening of riotous unhustings-like-behaviour in the Voodoo Rooms (Edinburgh) 4 May.

9. Or ignore all that Luddism and follow @SophiaPangloss …leading the way for the Scots’ Twitterati…

10. MSM – BBC Radio Scotland leading the way with Blethering Brian’ s soporific ‘making it clear’ strapline (yeah that’ s going to excite the masses) to the Scottish Daily Fail’s over-excited headline.

Cynical Sun apart, the Benny Hill moment for Iain Gray will probably be the defining meeja momento. On  a more (?) serious note the media shaping of the campaign to exclude the Scottish Green Party may have failed, and broadcast media will look increasingly stupid if and when the SGP overtake the QuisDems on 5th May. There are now almost 1,100 signatures to a petition demanding SGP on the debates, and the Greens have today put in a formal appeal to the BBC and to STV. The press release from the party which sets out the arguments in favour of all parties being heard is here.

Nationalists who rightly protested Alex Salmond’s exclusion at the General Election would do well to support this. The corporate media doesn’t make a democracy, it often undermine’s it.

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  1. David McCann says:

    “Nationalists who rightly protested Alex Salmond’s exclusion at the General Election would do well to support this. The corporate media doesn’t make a democracy, it often undermine’s it”.
    I couldn’t agree more, and Patrick Harvie’s appearance tonight on Newsnight Scotland reinforces my support.
    Having said that I’ll be voting Alex Salmond for First Minister, and Keith Brown for Clackmannanshire & Dunblane, but every good luck to the Scottish Greens. They have been quick to move in to the ground vacated by the fractious left in Scotland, and deserve a decent result.

  2. McGregor says:

    The inspirational @SCOTTISHLABOUR would surely have made it in to this account Bella?

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/apr/27/scottish-labour-complains-twitter-hoax

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