For non-UK
readers who might be mystified by the picture above, some background.
The Daily Mail, a UK newspaper that once supported Hitler and seems
to be returning to those good old ways, recently called
the three independent judges, who had just ruled that parliament
should have a say on triggering Article 50 to leave to EU, “enemies
of the people”. In response to this and their remorseless headlines
pushing the idea of a migrant threat, a group called Stop Funding
Hate asked advertisers to take their business away from the Mail.
Lego appears
to be their first success.
All the UK tabloids
have Scottish editions, but there is one additional Scottish tabloid,
the Daily Record. In Scotland the Daily Record has a little under a
third of the daily tabloid market. The Scottish Sun has a little over
a third. The Mail has only 15%. Contrast this with the rest of the
UK, in which if I’ve done my sums right the Mail has a third of the
market, the Sun has a third, and the rest is split between the
Mirror, Star and Express. So in Scotland, unlike the rest of the UK,
the Mail does not dominate the tabloid market.
But everyone knows Scotland is just more left wing and liberal, you might say.
But you would be wrong. When social attitudes are measured, Scotland
consistently comes out as looking
very similar to the rest of the UK.
The idea that the
media is just a mirror, reflecting the political attitudes of its
readers, is a (dare I say cultivated) myth that falls apart the
moment you think about it. It relies on the idea that if a paper does
not reflect a reader’s political viewpoint, the reader will stop
buying. But most people do not buy newspapers for the politics.
Furthermore, the market is hardly flooded with alternatives. These
facts give newspapers considerable agency to push their owners views.
Of course there are limits to what a paper can do, and Murdoch in
particular is very careful not to let his papers get too out of line
with its readers, but within those limits they have considerable
power. Why else do politicians spend so much of their precious time
courting
them, if they have no influence? As Murdoch said, when asked why he
was so opposed to the EU: “That’s easy. When I go into Downing
Street they do what I say; when I go to Brussels they take no
notice.”
In the EU referendum
we know how the Mail, Sun and Express became part of the Leave
campaign. That means that only around 20% of the UK tabloid market
argued to Remain. What is more, this 80% pushed their position in a
way that can only be described as propaganda. Was this dominance just
a reflection of readers views?!
In Scotland however
the Daily Record argued for Remain, and the Scottish Sun sat on the
fence. (Compare the Scottish Sun’s editorial
to the one the rest of the UK saw.)
That means that those arguing for Leave were in a slight minority in
Scotland. But perhaps more importantly, readers obtained information
from newspapers, not propaganda. As we know, Scotland voted by over
60% to stay in the EU.
I listened to this
talk
(text)
by Nicola Sturgeon at SPERI a week ago. She argued, correctly in my
view, that leaving the EU but staying in the single market was the
obvious way forward after such a close vote. She says that not only
did austerity cause significant economic damage, but it also hurt the
very fabric of society. She talks about how a fairer society is also
good for the economy. None of the leaders of the three other main
parties could argue these points. And she argues all these things
with calm authority. It is natural to ask why the UK as a
whole does not have a political leader of this quality. Perhaps a
more balanced tabloid press in Scotland is part of the answer, although there are
no doubt many
other reasons.
Of course Sturgeon
and the SNP can attempt to deceive voters, as they did in the
Scottish referendum when it came to the short term fiscal costs. Yet
in Scotland newspapers, including the Sun, gave their readers both
sides of the argument rather than feeding them propaganda. And
Scotland voted to stay part of the UK. It was close, but so was the
EU referendum vote in the UK. Whether people get facts or propaganda
from their newspapers can make that difference.
