One of the most compelling images conjured up by the revolution in Egypt over the past few days came to me courtesy of an Al Jazeeri reporter on Friday evening who informed his audience, in the wake of Vice President Suleiman's statement that Mubarak had 'waived the presidency', that the news anchors on Egyptian state TV were to be seen smiling broadly. For some reason I found this quite an emotional concept and came gie near wibbly as a result. It's been an emotional rollercoaster watching human dignity stand so steadfast in the face of brutal oppression. Only someone with a heart of flint would fail to be moved by the Channel 4 news interview Jon Snow did with Egyptian human rights activist Dr Hossam Abdalla and his Glasgow born son Khalid Abdalla, the actor from such films as the Kite Runner and Green Zone, who was with the crowd in Tahrir Square.
Therefore, it was interesting to read this morning that one of the first effects, following the collapse of Mubarak, is that State Television and pro-government media have about faced as fast as a Labour MP totalling their expenses column. According to an article on Al Arabiya's website 'State TV and pro-Mubarak newspapers portrayed the hundreds of thousands of protesters as a minority of troublemakers. While raucous protests raged in downtown Cairo, state-run Al-Nil TV showed serene videos of the Nile River.'
It's rather telling that on the Thursday, 24 hours before the actual day of departure, journalists at the pro-government al-Ahram newspaper, possibly sniffing the fresh air of change, demanded the sacking of their editor and the publishing of a front page apology for their 'unethical coverage'.
All of this got me to thinking about pro-government newspaper mouth pieces and state controlled radio and television and how lucky we are in Scotland to be living in such a free and democratic place, where our media are unfettered from the terrible pressures of oppressive and indulgent forces and report everything fairly with a straight bat.
Then I sobered up.
No matter which way you look at it, depending on the vagaries of poll results, at the very least one-quarter to one-third of people living in Scotland believe Scotland should be Independent. Yet this swathe of the electorate are ignored by our state broadcaster and pro-Union mouth-piece media and newspapers. Opponents of Independence have had decades to build up a culture of Union dependence within these vast organisations. Others have pointed out where political allegiances lie in newsrooms across the country, where personal relationships are dismissed as mere tittle tattle. Yet, personally I know of a great number of media people, who are keen on the idea of this illusionary better nation. In a previous career I was the director of a peripatetic film and television festival that drew media practitioners from the 'Celtic' countries to Scotland where they could embrace and celebrate their individuality and differences. Friendships made at the festival still survive some 12 years on, many privately agree with what myself and other Scottish blawgers say about the inherent Labour bias in our media. At least one, senior executive is troubled by the bias his organisation projects on news. Yet, the status quo continues. This week has seen Iain Gray go into hiding, the gray pimpernel is nowhere to be found, obviously our unbiased journalists have looked everywhere to ask him the simple question of, when he was first made aware that Labour in London were 'actively facilitating' the return of el-Megrahi to Libya?
Only one journalist found him, the Observers Kevin McKenna, who must surely buy his mouthwash in bulk, has penned the most ridiculous hagiography since the publication of 'Mugabe: My Misunderstood Years.' If you can bare the indignity of a professional journalist becoming a porn fluffer then read on.
Personally, I'm looking for more than Jackie Bird dropping her folksy-grinning-everything's-alright-go-back-to-sleep routine and go into a prophetic Howard Beale rant-a-thon as in 'Network'.
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