DUMBARTON NOTEBOOK: CORRALLING JOURNALISTS IS NOT OK

heaneymedia

2 days ago

by BILL HEANEY

Not many of us in journalism took up this trade to make friends and influence people, although there are exceptions to that rule in every newspaper office.

But then there are balloons behaving like bona fides in almost every walk of life.

Most of us in the press want to do our job unimpeded by small-minded politicians, who would not recognise democracy if it came up and bit them in the throat.

Free is a four-letter word to the creeps who go around “protecting” politicians and officials from doing what they are exceptionally well paid to do from the public purse.

That is their job, which should most certainly not involve journalists being excluded from public meetings, ‘kettled’ in corridors or banned from speaking to spin doctors, as I am here in Dumbarton, where I have been working on and off for more than 60 years.

As Kemi Badenoch said in the House of Commons to MPs recently: “That’s your job. Just do it.”

Kettling is what the police do with spectators they claim are about to explode into acts of violence at football matches, rock concerts and other high-profile events.

I have looked on with dismay on many occasions after a court case, when police officers escorting prisoners convicted of the most heinous crimes have obstructed press photographers from taking pictures, which would result in scoundrels being held up to public opprobrium in the media.

There is an official mindset which would have us believe that the bad guys should not be inconvenienced in such a manner, especially bad guys with money and power, much of which is gained by corruption at the highest level, which we have seen so clearly demonstrated in our courts recently.

But that is hypocrisy of the kind we saw clearly in the crowds who gathered around the Tyburn Tree and lined the route to it in the days when people were hanged in public.

One of the last people they victimised and bullied by West Dunbartonshire Council has received around £500,000 in compensation from the courts for that, and even more money is on its way to him. That’s public money, your money – Mr and Mrs Ten Per Cent Council Tax.

Now Scottish Parliament spin doctors and pen pushers have corralled members of the media into a new penned off area after First Minister’s Questions, following complaints from thin-skinned MSPs. The ones who would have to find a spin for a shiver to run up.

Now, the leaders of Scottish Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats have criticised the Scottish Parliament for keeping members of the Holyrood press pack trapped in a ‘media pen’.

It’s more George Orwell and Animal Farm in this country than ever before, but it’s not fiction here. It’s real.

Critics were quick to raise concerns about freedom of the press and the ability of reporters to properly scrutinise politicians and SNP ministers for their decision in this regard.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton questioned the logic behind the pen, arguing the journalists already have a pass that lets them freely roam the building at other times.

The opposition’s leaders responded in unison to questions about “thin-skinned” politicians complaining about journalists asking them tough questions, stating they are in the “wrong job”.

Which they very much are.

The Holyrood galoots claimed the decision was taken “following feedback from a range of building users and discussion with all parties”.

The Scottish Parliamentary Journalists’ Association (SPJA), which represents reporters covering Holyrood, was not consulted.

The group has now written to parliament bosses calling for the decision to be “reviewed as a matter of urgency”, explaining: “This change represents a significant departure from established parliamentary practice and risks undermining the ability of accredited journalists to scrutinise elected representatives on behalf of the public.”

But Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay, a former journalist, dismantled the pen, joking he would “free the hacks” and allow them to be “free-range journalists”.

Members of the media were supposed to be confined to the pen directly outside the Holyrood chamber after First Minister’s Questions. The pen was created following concerns about reporters “doorstepping” politicians and allegedly blocking the area.

Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy: “Journalists should not be prevented from questioning politicians, whatever party they are from, and holding them to account.”

“This clear attempt to muzzle and curb the press will also only help John Swinney and the SNP, who have a dire track record on transparency and are currently desperate to avoid questions on the sleaze and scandal engulfing them.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also condemned it, adding: “I think the freedom of the press for you guys to come and ask us difficult questions makes it uncomfortable for us sometimes, but that is a fundamental part of our democracy. “

I wish he had told that to the chancers at Dumbarton, including the Dumbarton Labour MP Douglas McAllister and his Edinburgh colleague Jackie Baillie, who asked Amanda McKendrick, the person in charge of Communications in Church Street, to take the chains off me.

On those occasions when they did let us into a meeting, they wouldn’t give us a seat or even a drink of water. There is no press bench at which to take notes.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “Corralling the media behind barriers is wrong. Journalists should be able to ask questions freely of elected members of parliament, especially after events like First Minister’s Questions, which are likely to lead to breaking news lines. The Scottish Parliament should be a place of transparency and scrutiny.”

First Minister John Swinney said it was a “matter for the parliamentary corporate body”. But Holyrood’s Presiding Officer, Kenneth Gibson, refused to comment when asked about the issue.

It is understood that Reform UK raised concerns about journalists doorstepping the party’s MSPs during a meeting of the parliamentary bureau. Certainly, Reform too banned me, although the press officer who did that was sacked later that day.

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “The decision was taken following feedback from a range of building users and discussion with all parties at the parliamentary bureau.”

As ever, West Dunbartonshire Council refused to comment. Their chief officer gets £111,000 for staying silent and answering complaints about the non-delivery of bins, filthy streets and open spaces on the telephone, to which residents have great difficulty getting an answer.

Share this: