Yet there was no debating the imbalance in the positions taken by the newspapers that circulate in Scotland.
Scottish-based daily newspapers, which are widely read and influential, were overwhelmingly opposed to independence -- with just one major newspaper, the Sunday Herald, urging a "yes" vote. The British national dailies, which circulate widely in Scotland, were even more determined in their opposition--offering up intense criticism of the idea of independence and of independence campaigners.
That was especially true after a key poll published almost two weeks before the vote suggested that the "yes" side had moved into a narrow lead. Jim Sillars, a former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party and an outspoken independence campaigner, said the numbers "rattled the cages" of economic and political elites in London.
It was at that point that the papers turned up the "no" volume.
There will be books written on the overall character and the content of the coverage. But what was most striking was the stances taken by the newspaper editorial pages of the Scottish papers. No one expected them to be universal in their support for independence. But their opposition was exceptional.
"Perhaps the most arresting fact about the Scottish referendum is this: that there is no newspaper -- local, regional or national, English or Scottish -- that supports independence except the Sunday Herald. The Scots who will vote yes have been almost without representation in the media," wrote Monbiot, one of the UK's most prominent and media-savvy campaigners on environmental and democracy issues...
"There is nothing unusual about this. Change in any direction, except further over the brink of market fundamentalism and planetary destruction, requires the defiance of almost the entire battery of salaried opinion. What distinguishes the independence campaign is that it has continued to prosper despite this assault."
At the start of the referendum campaign, support for a "yes" vote was estimated at roughly 30 percent. In the end, 45 percent of Scots voted for independence. Much of the credit for the shift goes to effective use of social media and grassroots campaigning by "yes" supporters. Ultimately, however, as Monbiot reminds us, "Despite the rise of social media, the established media continue to define the scope of representative politics in Britain, to shape political demands and to punish and erase those who resist."
Monbiot could have removed the words "in Britain" and been just as accurate in his observation.
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