WE’RE mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more.
The late great Australian actor Peter Finch made that line his own when he played the demented television anchorman Howard Beale in Network, one of the greatest films about the media ever made.
When it came out in 1976, Network was a satire. Now it would be a reality show.
But in 2019, we at The National are mad as Hell and we’re not taking it any more.
For the next 39 days until the General Election, The Jouker is going to expose the lies, the bias, the folly, the amateurishness, the sheer mendacity of the Unionist press and media as never before.
You may think why bother? But we think the Yes movement and those who are still neutral on politics should know about the deceitful propaganda being pumped out by the press and the media.
The National is up front about our support for independence. Unlike so many in the media, we don’t hide behind the fig leaf of non-existent impartiality. We don’t print pictures of counter-demonstrators against Yes rallies because we know there are dozens of other unionist papers which will do that and ignore the pro-independence activists.
At least most news outlets did cover the rally and what Nicola Sturgeon said in particular. Interestingly, The National’s role in organising the event was rather downplayed, though we were rather gratified by the amount of coverage our rally got in the press and the media abroad.
As for the unionist UK press? Let’s start with the Daily Express’s online coverage of The National’s rally in George Square on Saturday.
“Nicola Sturgeon humiliated as Union Jack waving unionists protest independence rally” was their headline, and it was accompanied by a host of pics showing the Union Jackery types and a photo of the First Minister ridiculously photo-shopped so as to appear next to the A Force for Good contingent of Unionists.
Some of the pictures even credited their source – yep, A Force For Good. On the online page, A Force For Good was quoted with six lines. The First Minister got five.
The Daily Express boasts on its website: ‘The maintenance of high editorial standards is at the core of the Express’s philosophy’. Aye, right.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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