{"id":495,"date":"2014-09-15T14:28:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T14:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/?p=495"},"modified":"2021-04-29T15:22:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T15:22:52","slug":"bias-cut-why-journalists-should-embrace-the-angry-mob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/?p=495","title":{"rendered":"Bias cut: why journalists should embrace the angry mob"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching television pictures of the demonstration outside the BBC\u2019s Scottish headquarters<\/a> yesterday, I felt concerned for my friends and colleagues who work there.\u00a0 Estimates of the crowd size outside their place of work started at around 1,000 \u2013 some called it well above that. \u00a0The coverage I saw looked good-natured enough \u2013 but the chanting and goading had the full-on quality of a football crowd.\u00a0 Many would quite reasonably feel terrified at the prospect of becoming the focus of such a group\u2019s ire.<\/p>\n

The demonstration of \u2018Yes\u2019 campaigners were galvanised by two clips taken from a press conference<\/a>.\u00a0 The first is part of an edited package in which the BBC\u2019s political editor Nick Robinson says that SNP leader Alex Salmond failed to answer a question.\u00a0 In the second, apparently unedited clip, it is clear that Salmond devotes some time to taking up Robinson\u2019s point \u2013 although whether what he says constitutes and \u2018answer\u2019 is clearly a matter of reasonable conjecture.<\/p>\n

These two clips provided the spur for the march to Pacific Quay, but anger at the BBC\u2019s coverage of the independence referendum goes deeper.\u00a0 Two months ago, Scotsman columnist Joyce McMillan told me that, in her view, the BBC\u2019s coverage of the coming vote was a disgrace.\u00a0 \u201cI have been shocked by the BBC\u2019s bias and its failure to reflect the scale and importance of the Yes campaign\u201d, she told me.\u00a0 McMillan has spent her adult life defending journalists and is anything but a knee-jerk nationalist.\u00a0 Her misgivings reflect a deep sense among \u2018Yes\u2019 supporters that the media has been against them. It is not entirely surprising \u2013 only one of Scotland\u2019s \u2018national\u2019 newspapers supports independence.<\/p>\n

The nationalists are not the only ones to complain about media bias, however.\u00a0 In 2012, Ian Davidson, a Glasgow Labour MP, appeared on the BBC\u2019s then flagship Scottish news slot, Newsnight Scotland, and repeatedly referred to the program as \u2018Newsnat\u2019<\/a>.\u00a0 He later explained<\/a> that his was a deliberately robust stance against what he saw as the \u2018assumptions\u2019 and \u2018bias\u2019 that he suggested were frequently evident on that program.\u00a0 As a result of this, the NUJ\u2019s Scottish organiser Paul Holleran issued a statement condemning the bullying of journalists by politicians.<\/p>\n

I know myself what it is like facing down a crowd, some of whom are displaying anger at perceived one-sidedness in the media. A fortnight ago at a meeting of Irish trades unionists in Belfast, I encountered a barrage of accusations about pro-Israeli bias in the reporting of the recent conflict in Gaza.\u00a0 In the company of the NUJ\u2019s Irish Secretary and General Secretary, I spent over an hour batting back interventions from an audience, some of whose enthusiasm for shooting the messenger was palpable.<\/p>\n

This is never a comfortable position for journalists or those who seek to represent them. However, before condemning the protesters, it is worth considering this.\u00a0 This level of engagement, whether angry or pacific, runs contrary to the popular narrative that \u2018big media\u2019 is in steep decline<\/a>.\u00a0 According to this view, social and micro media have chipped away at the importance of that which is \u2018broadcast\u2019, to the extent that some imagine Twitter one day supplanting the Ten O\u2019Clock News and the Today program.<\/p>\n

The evidence from Glasgow on Sunday suggests that people care more than ever what the big media says \u2013 and use the micro media to discuss their concerns and devise means to express their points of view.\u00a0 The Glasgow demonstration certainly appears to have its roots in social media.<\/p>\n

As journalists, rather than panicking in the face of the approaching mob, we should welcome the affirmation of our enduring relevance. \u00a0\u00a0There was a time when Marks and Spencer managers boasted that, buy ativan<\/a>, of all retailers, they received the most complaints; it was confirmation of customers\u2019 certainty that M&S would take their concerns seriously, they reasoned.<\/p>\n

Journalists should take a similar attitude.\u00a0 If those who consume our product care sufficiently about what we do to complain, we should welcome them \u2013 however they make us feel.\u00a0 Where an apology for bias or inaccuracy is appropriate, then that should be offered \u2013 and where we can mount a robust defence of our work, then we should make our case without fear.\u00a0 Facing down an angry crowd is never comfortable, but its better than the easy ride of irrelevance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching television pictures of the demonstration outside the BBC\u2019s Scottish headquarters yesterday, I felt concerned for my friends and colleagues who work there.\u00a0 Estimates of the crowd size outside their place of work started at around 1,000 \u2013 some called …<\/p>\n

Bias cut: why journalists should embrace the angry mob<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-union-of-journalists","category-the-practice-of-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions\/497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}