The EU and my problems with the media.

The European Union - members or not?

Firstly, apologies for not updating this periodical for many months. As ever, tempus fugit etc. I have recently started a new job and have been working overtime in order to be the good little boy so time has been at a premium and inspiration has been at a minimum. A tweet yesterday by the BBC reporter, James Cook (@BBCJamesCook), who generally seems to be one of the better BBC news correspondents, set me to it. Consequently, don't be dismayed but I am back!

Twitter is one of the pastimes that have taken a seat towards the back of my bus as time pressures have built but I saw a tweet in which he complained that the BBC had been receiving some criticism for their reporting of the current so-called EU controversy. I didn't see the tweets he referred to and it may be that they were over the top but I too feel that the BBC, and the wider media in general, have a lot to answer for in their reporting of the whole Independence debate.

My criticism with the BBC is not that they report the story, as this is their job, but that they report the story in an unquestioning manner. Last week was a prime example of this. The Scotsman (which used to be a decent newspaper but which is now in its death throes) effectively lied to create a front page headline when they stated they had seen a letter sent by José Manuel Barroso, current President of the European Commission, to the UK Government which stated that Scotland would require to negotiate entry to the EU when Independence is achieved. There was no such letter and yet our BBC reported the story with what some might say amounted to enthusiasm. Criticism number one of the BBC is that they reported a false story without checking the facts. The Scotsman have "apologised", the BBC have not.

Criticism number two goes much deeper and I would refer James and his colleagues to the BBC drama "The Hour" which is currently being broadcast on BBC2 and BBC HD. The Hour is a fictional news programme along the lines of Newsnight in which the reporters and presenters place great emphasis not on the news but on the truth. They don't simply rehash a story or a press release but actually look to see if it is truth, fiction or embellishment. Our BBC is not doing this. This week, Barroso has said that "any new country will, I think, require to apply for EU membership".

I don't know whether Scotland will or might require to apply for membership of the EU when Independence comes but, crucially, neither does Senhor Barroso. His opinion, whatever it may be is simply that, his opinion. I would argue that, surely, the role of the BBC is to report and question. 

Were I the President of the European Commission, I would be looking at the UK and the move for Scottish Independence and I would be having internal private discussions to discuss how the subject was handled. I would look at the situation in Spain where Catalunya appears close to holding an Independence referendum and at Belgium where it looks increasingly possible that the country might split into two along Flemish and French language fissures. I might decide that I would prefer this didn't happen as their current Governments are against such democratic break ups and opine that a newly Independent country would require to apply for entry into the EU. I might wonder how many more countries might fragment as the success of the newly Independent peoples becomes apparent. I might, therefore, try and please the UK, Spanish and Belgian Governments by saying what Barroso has done.

Were I a correspondent working for BBC Scotland, I might consider the following and ask the likes of S. Barroso or our Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, to provide their answers. If they can say that Scotland must apply for membership then they must have thought the following through:

• Scotland will not be a new country as we have entered a Union with the other members of the current United Kingdom. Independence will dissolve that Union. Scotland was a country before the Union, remains a country within the Union and will once again become an Independent country after the Union is dissolved. Does or can Barroso's statement apply to us as given that we are not a new country?
• I am, currently, a citizen of the European Union. Senhor Barroso implies that I would lose my rights to and under such citzenship. By what mechanism can this occur?
• Do all the Polish, French, German etc people currently resident in Scotland under EU law lose such rights? Are they then to be repatriated?
• When do you propose that EU students currently studying at Scottish Universities begin to pay tuition fees as current EU regulations will no longer apply?
• Does the EU rewrite all the policies which are in force like the Fisheries Policy as an Independent Scotland outwith the EU might object to Spanish trawlers fishing in our waters?
• Do all the Scots currently living and working in other EU countries immediately lose their residency rights and be told to stop working and return home?

Take it a stage further and consider Belgium splitting into two. Are the European Commission, primarily based in Brussels, going to tell one half of the current Belgium that they are not in the EU whilst allowing the other half to remain as members? Which half do they allow to stay? Belgium uses the Euro so are the Commission going to prevent its use and force the introduction of a new currency in one half or the other?

I would argue that the Scottish Government's position on Europe is quite clear. Scotland will remain a member of the European Union upon Independence. Why do I think this? It is inconceivable that the EU would effectively expel one of its current member states for having the audacity to revert to Independent status. The EU has, this week, been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its part in European harmony in recent decades. Not permitting Catalunya, Flanders or Scotland to remain as EU members would only provoke tension. The EU require to take some serious decisions. They have not yet done so because they are scared to upset the Madrid or London Governments. Barroso stating an opinion does not make policy. The BBC reporting an opinion does not make fact. My second criticism of the BBC is crystal clear. You are paid for by my licence fee. I do not expect you to take sides in the Independence debate but feel that, at the moment, you are firmly on the side of the Unionists. 

Why? Because you don't ask the questions that you need to ask. 

Why? Because your main stories are invariably critical of the Scottish Government or the SNP Government whilst stories critical of the UK Government (like today's Coastguard reports) tend to say "the Government came under criticism" which is either careless or designed to cause confusion. 

Why? Because you never seem to interrupt a Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat spokesperson but never seem to fail to interrupt an SNP one.

Why? Because your flagship programme, Reporting Scotland, regularly provides a platform for one Scottish Government spokesperson but three opposition ones when your main BBC News at 6 steadfastly goes on a much fairer one to one basis at Westminster.

It is drip, drip, drip and more and more people are noticing it. Just as has happened with The Scotsman perhaps? 

Be fair and the criticism will stop. Be fair, that's all I ask.