BBC Scotland as has been pointed out elsewhere are up to their usual shenanigans with misreporting the actual number of seats both the SNP and Labour have won since the last council election in 2007. The inference being that by lowering the additional SNP seats won and raising the number Labour won, suggests they won the entire election. This would suggest that the State Broadcaster believe their consumers are too stupid to look at the overall seats won and the considerable victory for the SNP throughout Scotland.
However, what piqued my interest this morning is the front page of the Beebs Scotland website page. As you can see the headline below is factual. Then the article starts with the astonishing claim that both parties claim victory. Of more concern is the rolling imagery on the front page. There are 8 images that the user can scroll through. The many thumbed Labour victors in Glasgow have the first image.
++++++++++++++++++++++UPDATE+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It's just been pointed out to me by the estimable Malcolm Osborne on Twitter that using the BBC figures, the pro independence parties are +63 and unionist parties are -40 councillors. A victory for the people then...
++++++++++++++++++YET ANOTHER UPDATE++++++++++++++++++
Ha ha, BBC Scotland's website has changed their SNP photo. The time amended suggests the page was altered a mere one hour after this blog was posted. Experience suggests otherwise. Oddly enough the photo has been labelled '_60053965_victorysnp' by their photo editor. Ooops.
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2 comments:
It's not just the "happy or sad" appearance of that first photo that is remarkable, it's the whole thing. It's the doleful expression caught on the face of the elderly activist to the left of Nicola, and the neutral one on the lady to the far left. And in the background the hall is emptying, with people getting their coats and leaving.
The Labour photo is clearly set up by them for the camera, though they appear to be playing to a camera above and to the left of the one taking the actual photo. And that is indeed the sort of shot you would expect any media outlet to use. The SNP group have been caught in an off-moment - who knows why Nicola is scratching her head and the older lady looking glum, maybe the TV feed had just failed or something. And it was as the meeting was breaking up, obviously.
How hard did the BBC picture editor have to search to find that, for goodness sake? Weren't there any comparable shots of an SNP group looking happy for the cameras? Of course there were. They weren't constrained to shots of the Glasgow count (though in the end they did use another one from Glasgow), as the article was a general one about the Scottish results.
Who thought that extraordinarily unflattering picture was appropriate, in the first place? To illustrate the reaction of the party that had just won the most seats and the most votes and the most gains (on both counts) in Scotland?
And as you note, it isn't the first time. It suggests someone is deliberately picking the most negative images of the SNP they can find, to put up on the BBC web site. This is really quite sinister, but I don't suppose we'll ever get to the bottom of it.
Aye Rolfe, any photo editor worth their salt, already has a set of winners and loser shots in mind.
You have to wonder at Daniel Maxwell and ponder whether it's his gig or his pesky minions that threaten the Beebs impartial record with such flagrant abuses...
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