ALEXANDER Potts (Letters, June 4) suggests a solution to the Unionist media bias could be for the Scottish people or the Scottish Government to set up their own unbiased TV channel. Not a pirate station, but one set up within the law.
In the 50s, 60s and 70s a pro-indy pirate radio station operated intermittently in defiance of the law. At the time the SNP backed Radio Free Scotland (RFS) as a counterbalance to the BBC ban on SNP party political broadcasts.
Always moving the equipment from one Glasgow tenement to another ahead of the detectors, RFS stayed in business for decades. They offered a mixture of news which had been censored out from the mainstream media and light music.
To maximise the audience they used a radio wavelength as well as transmitting on the BBC One wavelength after closedown. The BBC responded by transmitting an unpleasant whistle right after the end of God Save the Queen.
In the end the law caught up with the operators and they had their day in court.
In trying to convert people, the main difficulty faced by RFS was that their audience largely consisted of people who were already politicised and already pro-indy.
The same difficulty faces other pro-indy news outlets including blogs and The National itself.
Alexander Potts’s new TV station would face the same difficulty, competing in a crowded field with pro-Unionist channels which get away with presenting themselves as unbiased and non-political.
How do you get the attention of the “soft No” voters whose lack of interest in politics between elections is actively encouraged by the mainstream media?
I don’t know the full answer myself. However, during 2013-2014 the least politicised sections of the electorate were queuing up to register to vote and on polling day turned out in their droves.
If we can grab the imagination again in that way, we’re sorted.
Mary McCabe
Glasgow
I’M too old to deliver leaflets in tall tenements, but I can still prepare for the early years of independence by buying Scottish products now. So when I shop I look for the place of origin on the packet, and I buy the Scottish one if I can. Blue-and-white Saltires on packaging are a great help.
I am surprised that, unlike the European supermarkets who sell their own country’s products almost exclusively, the British supermarkets source most of their supplies from England and abroad. French supermarkets have a small section for “products of the world” and it is not crowded.
In Edinburgh I have noticed that European-owned supermarkets offer a far higher proportion of Scottish-made products than their domestic competitors. They are of a real quality and often cheaper.
As for taste, I prefer a Scottish strawberry to others that have travelled further and sat in storage longer, and that applies to many other perishable products.
Scots food producers know that their best customers are in Scotland. Less travel costs, less damaging environmental impact, fewer storage problems. With increased sales they produce new varieties of their product which benefits everyone.
My favourite ice cream maker in the north-east has just done so. A biscuit maker I discovered a few years ago now has a world market and masses of choice biscuits, but it was enthusiastic buying from their home market in Scotland that set them on their way.
Emporiums and small shops everywhere stock Scottish-made clothing, furniture, and household goods.They just need to be looked for and encouraged by buying Scottish where the quality and the price are right.
Elizabeth Buchan-Hepburn
Edinburgh
DAN Wood (Letters, June 4), I did not suggest all the responders were trying to stop me voting in a certain way, but that some were. Again you credit me with things
I have never said, such as that the EU makes Scotland’s position worse, and I am not sure what you meant by the SNP helping us out of any dilemma we are in. Do you honestly agree with every SNP policy? If not, do you just go along with it? I think it was clear you thought I should do that.
And Douglas Turner (Letters, June 4), I did not assume that EU supporters are blind to its flaws. On the contrary, I asked them for some straight answers and got none. We cannot alter the EU from without, but we have done precious little from within over decades.
Lastly, there was no note of triumphalism in pointing out there were enough voters to get a Brexit MEP elected from Scotland. It was just stating the obvious, and as the SNP is the biggest party in Scotland in terms of paid-up membership, it follows that some of those voters must be SNP members.
Julia Pannell
Friockheim
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