IMAGINE we are at war. Most days, our Commander-In-Chief comes onto the main media outlet to update us on casualties, both in frontline fighters and the general public. That elected leader is, internationally, considered to be one of the best in the world. Guidance given to the citizenry is drawn from the best minds in this type of warfare.
The leader is a driven person who devotes every spare minute and every human effort to winning this war and, in doing so, avoiding as many casualties as possible. The battles are being won and the enemy is in retreat. However, the enemy opens up another front and our forces have to regroup. So, the leader asks our citizens to make another small sacrifice to force the invading army back again. In doing so, this leader commits to using the media outlet for no purpose other than to concentrate on the war and its associated tactics.
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Now, imagine if the controllers of that media outlet decided that they would now invite junior officers from various battalions to come on, directly after the leader’s update, to attack that leader and to suggest that the tactics used could have been better. They are not asked to provide their own solutions to the loss of the occasional battle or to propose future strategies but, with the glorious privilege of hindsight, are allowed to undermine the message just given by the Commander-In- Chief and to now leave the listeners with some confusion as to whether or not to take the leader’s advice at all. That confusion, as in all wars, will ensure that lives are going to be lost.
If you think this scenario is unthinkable, then welcome to the new version of BBC Scotland’s daily briefing.
Alasdair Forbes
Farr, Inverness-shire
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M Macdonald
via email
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