The media, Murdoch and Scottish independence

The referendum vote gives Rupert Murdoch a chance for revenge – and he rarely passes up a chance for retribution, writes Raymond Snoddy.

One of the sharpest media battles in the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum – is taking place in the Shetlands.

The Shetland News has come out firmly for independence while its rival The Shetland Times has come out equally strongly for a “No” vote.

With a population of 22,300 the outcome in the most northerly part of the UK – at least for now – is of mainly symbolic interest compared with an overall electorate of more than 4 million.

In contrast the biggest media battle of all will involve Rupert Murdoch whose origins are Scottish and revolve around which way the The Sun in England, and, more importantly, The Sun in Scotland’s, circulation will jump.

Murdoch is of course a man of principle, who principally waits to see which side is winning before jumping on the bandwagon in the search for commercial advantage.

The story goes that David Dinsmore, the Glasgow-born editor of The Sun and the equally Scottish Gordon Smart, editor of The Scottish Sun, were summoned recently to see Murdoch in New York.

Dinsmore is believed to have argued that The Sun should back the Union. The editor of the Scottish argued the opposite.

Murdoch deliberated for some time as he always does, and then said he favoured the Smart view.

The story may be apocryphal but it has the ring of truth about it and fits all the known facts about Murdoch and his way of operating.

There is history. The Scottish Sun backed Labour in 2007 and argued that voting Nationalist was the same as putting the country’s head “in a noose.” In the 2011 election for the Scottish Parliament it decided to support the noose by ditching Labour and backing the Nationalists.

Perhaps surprisingly, The Scottish Sun remained entirely neutral today, although, given that Murdoch has already cosied up to Alex Salmond, it is less surprising that there was praise for the First Minister of Scotland in a leader column.

The cosy relationship has also spread rumours that Sky could move more of its operations to an independent Scotland in return for the right tax regime.

Apart from commerce Murdoch apparently has more personal motivations in this affair. He regards the political attack on phone-hacking and the arrest of his journalists as a direct assault by the Westminster establishment – rather than being caused by either lax or acquiescent management.

The referendum vote is therefore a chance for revenge and Rupert Murdoch rarely passes up a chance for retribution.

The overwhelming majority of papers in Scotland, if they express a definite preference at all, will come out for the union, as indeed The Scotsman has already done.

This has left Salmond and his supporters the playpen of the internet where any nonsense can be claimed as fact and be circulated endlessly without adequate scrutiny.

Newspapers do, however, have a problem, as seen in micro-form in the Shetlands. If roughly half of your readers support independence and the rest are against, a strong editorial line either way could have commercial consequences in the present heated and emotional climate.

Even London-based newspapers have to be careful which side they support with more than 70 per cent of the English population against the break-up of the union.

As a pro-union paper the Daily Telegraph has been doing its bit, not least with Monday’s splash on “Queen breaks her silence over Scottish independence”.

All the Queen said was that the Scots should think “very carefully about the future” to well wishers outside Crathie Kirk, the church she attends near Balmoral Castle. A casual neutral comment, as Salmond characterised it?

The code was clear because to her, few who think carefully about the issue would think independence a good idea.

The Telegraph went much further and demonstrated that the Queen’s subtle contribution was far from casual. Over the years the Queen has hardly ever said a word during her regular walks from the church to her car, let alone suddenly go on walkabout.

Even rarer, the press who were corralled 200 yards away from the action, were even invited by the police to come close enough to be able to hear and report the Queen’s asides. An important story, although who would think the Queen would ever be in favour of a break-up of the Union.

If Salmond triumphs, although the odds remain against it – just – then you can be sure there will be no favours for the metropolitan pro-union media in an independent Scotland.

The local version of Ofcom will also have responsibility for the regulation of the press and it will be interesting to see how independent such an SNP-packed body will be.

There have already been attempts to bully BBC journalists, petitions against the Corporation and a protest march to the BBC’s Glasgow headquarters. The problem? BBC journalists declining to accept the SNP waffle as gospel.

The atmosphere already starts to smack of a banana republic in waiting.

It is difficult to see exactly what would happen to the BBC in an independent Scotland. In border areas folks would simply have to twiddle their aerials and pick up the broadcasts from London for free.

The SNP has said that it will negotiate free-to-air terms for BBC One and BBC Two as a result of working in a “joint venture” with the BBC. Needless to say no such joint venture has been agreed.

The future of broadcasting in Scotland mirrors in a small way the debate over the currency. Scotland will be able to keep the pound because it will negotiate a currency union with the rest of the UK even though this seems very unlikely.

The Scottish Broadcasting Corporation, according to the SNP, will simply take over the operations of the BBC in Scotland including its new £200 million headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. Scottish viewers should continue to have access to all the channels and services they have now at no extra cost and Scottish producers will have more opportunities.

Right Jimmy. If you believe that you will believe anything.

It really would be better, and much more convenient, for everyone north and south of the border, including the Shetlands, to take the advice of Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to “think very carefully about the future” before casting their votes.