18 AUGUST, 2022 - SHANK MEDIA, BY MATT HOOPER: THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE WITHIN THE UK AND ACROSS SCOTLAND IS PREDOMINANTLY SKEWED TOWARDS A CONSERVATIVE VIEW OF THE WORLD, WITH VERY FEW PROMINENT MEDIA OUTLETS BACKING SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE OR OFFERING A POSITIVE AND PROPORTIONATE VIEW OF SCOTLAND EITHER WITHIN THE UK OR WITHOUT IT. SCOTLAND DOES NOT HAVE ITS OWN NATIONAL TELEVISION NETWORK - AND PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE BBC SCOTLAND OR STV. WHEN OUR 'LOCAL' NEWS COMES ON BBC AT 6.30PM IT IS 'REPORTING SCOTLAND', NEWS FROM ALL OVER SCOTLAND, NOT THE LOCAL AREA WE LIVE IN. LOCAL NEWS IS VITAL, FOR EXAMPLE WHEN A PERSON GOES MISSING IN A LOCAL AREA, AS HAS HAPPENED MANY TIMES IN THIS AREA, A LOCAL NEWS SERVICE CAN HELP TO FIND THEM THROUGH HIGH VISIBILITY OF ITS BROADCASTS.
THERE ARE NOW 8 CITIES ACROSS SCOTLAND - EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, DUNDEE, PERTH, STIRLING, INVERNESS, ABERDEEN AND DUNFERMLINE - YET BBC SCOTLAND IS SOLELY BASED IN GLASGOW, AND WE ONLY HAVE A SCOTTISH VERSION OF BBC AND ITV, NOT A SCOTTISH TELEVISION SERVICE WHICH COULD OPERATE ACROSS EACH OF THESE 8 CITIES RIGHT ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THE SAME IS TRUE OF BBC RADIO SCOTLAND, AND DESPITE INDEPENDENT RADIO STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, SCOTLAND DOES NOT HAVE A NATIONAL RADIO SERVICE, WHICH AGAIN WOULD ENHANCE INFORMATION SHARING AND KNOWLEDGE ACROSS THE COUNTRY, AS WELL AS ENTERTAIN PEOPLE.
THEN THERE ARE THE OTHER ELEMENTS OF SCOTTISH SOCIETY THROUGH BROADCASTING, INCLUDING GOLF, FOOTBALL AND THE ARTS WHICH ARE NOT COVERED IN THE SAME WAY AS THEY ARE IN ENGLAND OR OTHER COUNTRIES. FOR EXAMPLE, THE GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN IS BROADCAST EXCLUSIVELY ON SKY SPORTS, NOT FREE TO AIR, AS MUCH OF THE IRISH OPEN IS ON RTE IN IRELAND, AS WELL AS SKY. THE SCOTLAND FOOTBALL TEAM DOES NOT GET THE SAME COVERAGE IN SCOTLAND AS ENGLAND DOES IN ENGLAND, WITH ITV HOLDING THE RIGHTS TO SHOW ENGLAND GAMES FREE TO AIR IN ENGLAND, BUT SCOTLAND ARE SHOWN EXCLUSIVELY ON PAY TV NETWORKS WITH NO LIVE COVERAGE ON EITHER BBC SCOTLAND OR STV. THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL IS PRETTY MUCH IGNORED BY TELEVISION IN SCOTLAND BUT THE GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL IS SHOWN ACROSS BBC. THIS AGAIN HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT UPON EXPOSING YOUNG PEOPLE TO THE ARTS AND SPORT, SIMPLY BECAUSE COVERAGE IS NOT EQUAL.
SCOTLAND DOES HAVE THE NATIONAL, A NEWSPAPER CREATED EXPLICITLY SUPPORTING AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND, ALONG WITH THE HERALD, BUT BOTH STRUGGLE IN A LANDSCAPE OF OVERWHELMING MEDIA BIAS TOWARDS THE STATUS QUO - INCLUDING BBC, ITV, CHANNEL 4, CHANNEL 5, SKY, TALKTV, GB NEWS, DAILY RECORD, DAILY MAIL, THE SUN, DAILY MIRROR, TELEGRAPH AND THE TIMES. BROADCASTING SCOTLAND OPERATES ON YOUTUBE, BUT RELIES UPON SUPPORT VIA DONATIONS ONLINE TO KEEP BROADCASTING A 1-HOUR NIGHTLY SHOW, 'SCOTLAND AT 7', AND WHILST IT SHOULD BE APPLAUDED FOR TRYING, ITS VIEWERSHIP IS LOW. SO THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN SCOTLAND NEEDS A DISRUPTOR AND NEW ADDITIONS TO RESHAPE IT.
THE VISION FOR SHANK IS TO BECOME A SIGNIFICANT MEDIA COMPANY, COVERING EVERY ASPECT OF THIS REGION IN DETAIL INCLUDING GOLF, SPORT, NEWS, LIFE, TRAVEL AND MORE. I CREATED THE SHANK BRAND TO BRING TOGETHER 'THIS IS ST ANDREWS' AND 'THIS IS SPORT' LAST OCTOBER AND I CHOSE THE WORD SHANK BECAUSE FIRSTLY THE WORD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH GOLF AND IT CHANGED THE BRAND FROM BEING A 3-WORD NAME TO A SINGLE NAME WHICH WAS UNIQUE. THE NAME SHANK IS ALSO NOT ATTACHED TO ONE SINGLE DESTINATION, AND NOW LIVING IN CUPAR I HAVE A MORE ROUNDED VIEW OF THIS REGION RATHER THAN JUST BEING IN THE BUBBLE OF ST ANDREWS, AND THE PLATFORM AND BRAND NEEDED TO REFLECT THAT. FINALLY, THE LETTERS WHICH MAKE UP SHANK FEATURE IN MOST SCOTTISH TOWNS AND CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
SO AS I HAVE DONE WITH GRASSROOTS GOLF, FOOTBALL AND RUGBY, AND AS I HOPE TO DO WITH GRASSROOTS BOXING, I WANT TO COVER THE NEWS STORIES WHICH MATTER TO LOCAL PEOPLE, AND TO PEOPLE ACROSS SCOTLAND. SHANK HAS BEEN A SHOWCASE FOR LOCAL GOLFERS, LOCAL FOOTBALL CLUBS AND LOCAL RUGBY TEAMS, AND IN THE FUTURE I WANT IT TO BE A SHOWCASE FOR LOCAL NEWS, POLITICS, LIFE AND MUCH MORE. SHANK CAN AND WILL BE PART OF A RESHAPED MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN SCOTLAND, I HOPE THAT IT WILL BE AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND.
MY JOURNEY TO BEING A SUPPORTER OF SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE IS A 15-YEAR JOURNEY WHICH BEGAN IN 2007 WHEN I WORKED AT GLENEAGLES HOTEL, JUST A STEP ON A 25-YEAR EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT. I FIRST BECAME POLITICALLY AWARE IN 1997 (AGED 13) AS I STAYED UP THROUGH THE NIGHT TO WATCH THE UK GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS ON BBC, AS TONY BLAIR LED LABOUR TO A HISTORIC LANDSLIDE VICTORY, ENDING 18 YEARS OF CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT. MY 18TH BIRTHDAY FELL MONTHS AFTER LABOUR'S SECOND LANDSLIDE WIN IN 2001, BUT BY 2005 I WAS 21 AND I CAST MY FIRST VOTE IN BILSBORROW, LANCASHIRE NEAR PRESTON, WHERE I WAS AT UNIVERSITY. I VOTED LABOUR AND I WOULD DO SO AGAIN IN 2010 AND 2017, UNFORTUNATELY DUE TO A PROBLEM WITH REGISTRATION I WAS UNABLE TO VOTE AT THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTION. I SUPPORTED LABOUR AND THEIR POLICIES OR VIEWS ESSENTIALLY FROM 1997 TO 2017, BUT IN REALITY MY POLITICAL VIEWS HAVE BEEN MORE CLOSELY ALIGNED WITH ANOTHER POLITICAL PARTY FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.
10 YEARS AGO WHEN LONDON HOSTED THE OLYMPIC GAMES I WAS A PRO-UNION, PRO-ROYAL FAMILY, LABOUR VOTING PERSON FROM THE SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND, DESPITE HAVING LIVED AND WORKED IN SCOTLAND IN 2007 AND 2011. HOWEVER IT WAS BECOMING CLEAR THAT SCOTTISH SOCIETY AND SCOTTISH POLITICS WERE MORE CLOSELY ALIGNED WITH ME THAN ENGLAND, AFTER THE CONSERVATIVE-LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COALITION HAD REPLACED LABOUR IN 2010. IN SCOTLAND, ESPECIALLY WHILST LIVING AT THE FORMER ST ANDREWS TOURIST HOSTEL, I MET PEOPLE FROM RIGHT ACROSS THE WORLD FROM USA, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, NIGERIA, CHINA, PORTUGAL, NETHERLANDS, GERMANY, CZECH REPUBLIC, RUSSIA, LATVIA AND POLAND, AND I MET AND SPENT TIME WITH BLACK PEOPLE FOR VIRTUALLY THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE. THIS ILLUSTRATED TO ME HOW MUCH MORE WELCOMING AND OPEN SCOTLAND WAS TO PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN CONTRAST TO MY HOMETOWN IN WILTSHIRE AND TO WHERE I WENT TO UNIVERSITY IN LANCASHIRE.
BY THE TIME OF THE 2014 INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM I WAS YET TO MAKE A DECISION - YES OR N0 - AND HAD I VOTED IN AN EARLIER REFERENDUM IT WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN NO. I WAS STILL TO MAKE A DECISION UNTIL I ENTERED THE POLLING STATION. I VOTED YES.
OBVIOUSLY THE OUTCOME WAS NO.
THEN TWO YEARS LATER THE EU REFERENDUM CAME AND I VOTED TO REMAIN IN THE EU. THE OUTCOME WAS LEAVE.
MY POLITICAL VIEWS WERE NOW OUT OF SYNC WITH THE COUNTRY I WAS BORN IN, AND MORE CLOSELY ALIGNED WITH THAT OF THE COUNTRY WHICH I HAVE NOW LIVED IN FOR 10 YEARS. SO FOLLOWING THE 2017 UK GENERAL ELECTION I GRAVITATED TO THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY, VOTING FOR THEM AT THE 2019 UK GENERAL ELECTION BEFORE JOINING AS A MEMBER OF THE PARTY IN 2020.
SO AS MY VIEWS ON POLITICS AND SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE HAVE CHANGED OVER 10 YEARS, SO HAS THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE OF SCOTLAND, WITH THE UK LEAVING THE EU AND THE SNP WINNING EVERY ELECTION IN SCOTLAND SINCE 2015, BUT THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE HAS MORE OR LESS REMAINED THE SAME. SO THE MEDIA IN SCOTLAND NEITHER REFLECTS THE OPINION OF THE POPULATION, INFORMS THEM OF THE POSITIVE CHANGE MADE BY A DEVOLVED SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT OR CARRY BALANCED DEBATE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY.
OVER THE COMING MONTHS SHANK NEWS WILL SET OUT THE POSITIVE CASE FOR SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE AND A VISION FOR AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND, COVERING THE ROAD TO INDYREF2 AND CONTINUE TO COVER NEWS, LIFE AND MORE IN OUR LOCAL AREA UNLIKE ANY OTHER OUTLET.
