Former BBC journalist stresses need for 'honest journalism' in independent Scotland

Ruth Watson, who is now a media officer for the national Yes movement network, has insisted our democracy is in trouble because of the biased practices of mainstream media.

Speaking on MP Drew Hendry’s Scotland’s Choice podcast, Watson described her shock at the BBC’s output during the 2014 independence referendum in the UK and said she witnessed people who trained and worked with her drop the editorial standards they had taught her.

And she has argued when Scotland achieves its independence, it must do better when it comes to balanced journalism and make sure trusted media is in place broadcasting a wide range of voices.

She said: “When we get our independence, despite the media being stacked against us, one of the most important things is for us to put in place a media which can be trusted.

“That’s going to take quite a lot of work. We need to bring local media back into communities because that is how you build trust.

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“Some of the most honest journalists I have met are those who were in Orkney and Shetland and that’s because if you walk down the street in the afternoon you’re going to see the people you’ve been reporting on. If we get back to local journalism, then we can build national journalism that people can trust and that’s essential for democracy.

“I think a healthy democracy requires honest journalism and I think the fact we are no longer seeing honest journalism means democracy is in trouble.”

In the run-up to the referendum, Watson was living in Australia and saw much of the BBC World Service’s reports which she felt were “pretty fair”.

Ruth Watson says she was dismayed at media coverage of the independence referendum in 2014

But when she compared that to clips she had been sent from the UK, she felt she had to get actively involved in the movement as she watched Unionist bias unfold in the news.

“One of the reasons I became so actively involved is because I worked with the BBC, I was trained with them in the 80s and worked with them in the 90s,” said Watson.

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“I wasn’t here for the referendum but one of my former mentors was sending me information and recordings and clips over. We were getting the World Service as I was in Australia at the time. The World Service was doing a pretty good job of reporting it.

“So I was hearing all these claims of bias and it looked pretty fair to me, and when I heard what was coming out of the media in the UK I was really shocked and subsequently I moved back and that’s when I thought I have to get involved because people who helped train me in editorial standards, I was listening thinking that’s just not right.  

“I would watch the original source happening live and then I would watch the news report afterwards and it was completely different to any kind of report or broadcast I would’ve put out. I know those people know that because they trained me to be better than that so something fundamental has happened and to me that’s a serious concern.”

However, despite grievances with the BBC, Watson suggested Scotland does need to recognise the value of having a state-funded broadcaster.

She said: “It’s good for a lot of people to have tele they don’t have to pay for. For a lot of folk the tele is their only company. I think it’s really important we have free television and it’s good quality. What we need to do is bring trust back into that state broadcaster.”

Watson praised the work of Broadcasting Scotland, Independence Live radio, and Caledon Radio, which she argued were demonstrating the “enriching and inclusive” programming an independent Scotland could produce.

But she stressed the need to keep up this standard and urged more people go and discover the content they were offering. 

Watson added: “I think the likes of Broadcasting Scotland and Independence Live radio are doing an important job of bringing us new voices but we have to try and keep the standard high. A new Scotland has to be better.

“The thing I would ask of people is that if they would just go along and have a look at these programmes, often they will find people from the Yes movement or from pro-independence parties having the time and space to express their views in a way that takes the conversation forward.”

Linda Graham, founder of Broadcasting Scotland, added on the podcast: “In Scotland, when I was growing up, we had programmes made in Scotland for the audience in Scotland. That has been reduced over the years.

“We’ve now got BBC One and Two that don’t have any Gaelic content or Scots music, it’s all on BBC Alba. It’s now the Gaelic ghetto, meaning people don’t see themselves in the main national broadcaster. So we need to have a broadcaster that is absolutely fair, balanced and trusted.”