Time to fight back against newspaper bigotry

"The hard end of sectarianism is that people can die on our streets as a result"
Rev Alan McDonald,
Convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Nation Committee, 2002

When Rev Alan McDonald addressed the General Assembly and urged that Scotland "consign bigotry to the history books, where it belongs", there was much public and media approval.

More than that, there was hope. Hope that Scotland was finally to enter a new, enlightened era; one in which there were no acceptable targets for discrimination, abuse and violence.

The Kirk’s action was commendable in many ways, not least for its honesty. It repudiated a previous Church and Nation report, delivered in 1923, entitled "The Menace of the Irish Race to our Scottish Nationality", caricaturing Irish Catholics as people who could never be assimilated into Scottish society.

The newspapers largely characterised the problem as being one of two equally responsible social groups

Meanwhile, as reported in the media, Pastor Jack Glass stood outside castigating those who had “betrayed John Knox”.

Rev McDonald went on: "We may also be judged in hindsight to have turned a blind eye to sectarian attitudes which will still remain on and under the surface of the Church of Scotland today."

His statement was one of honest self-awareness and regret, the stuff of which truth and reconciliation are made.

In the wider media discussions, some attention was paid to Rangers, who had finally accepted Catholics as players; an equal amount was devoted to Celtic, who had never been part of that particular story.

The newspapers largely characterised the problem as being one of two equally responsible social groups, with the worst manifestations being a matter of poverty, over-exuberance and education.

Largely, however, they missed or ignored the most profound message of the Kirk’s debate – that the fabric of Scotland was one in which Irish Catholics could not hope to play a full part. It acknowledged that the established church had by action and neglect, played a part in engendering a dangerous antipathy towards people who would still be seen as unwelcome incomers more than 80 years after the report.

To date, the Kirk is the only major influential body in Scotland to have done so. David Murray has led Rangers for more than two decades. He once described the club as the second most influential institution in Scotland, qualifying his assessment only to accommodate the possibility that Rangers could top that league.

He has, on a number of occasions, expressed his distaste at the “FTP brigade” at Rangers and assured us that his club bans fans found guilty of unacceptable behaviour. But on the issue of bigotry at Rangers, Murray has been joined by a legion of Rangers legends in adopting a policy of “never apologise, never explain”.

The Scottish media always has been, as today, an important part of the problem

And why should he? What would compel David Murray (or any respected figure amongst Rangers supporters) to condemn the hordes of Rangers fans who decry the Pope and utter their “Why don’t you go home?” song so reminiscent of the National Front in its pomp with its “Send them back” placards?

The truth is that the only way in which these attitudes would be challenged are through the media. But there’s the rub. The Scottish media’s record in this area is worse than patchy.

How often do people stop to consider why a goalkeeper could attract such vociferous disapprobation for a t-shirt yet the late Pastor Glass – described as “a bit of an extremist” by Rev Ian Paisley – should be accorded the status of an amusing Scottish eccentric even as he punched the air spewing hatred of all things Catholic?

Where was the media castigation of the decades of abuse of anyone or anything that seemed to represent Irishness or Catholicism? Of course the answer is that the Scottish media never was in a position to be part of the solution. It always has

When distortion is married to a lack of decency - a culture where bigoted loathing is still acceptable - it becomes abhorrent

been, as today, an important part of the problem.

For years, there was nowhere that anti-Catholic recruitment policies were more rife than in the Scottish newspaper industry. If the BBC was once so “hideously white” as to repulse Greg Dyke, that was nothing compared to the industry of white male Scottish Protestant Freemasons that produced our newspapers.

Much has changed since the former editor of the Glasgow Herald, Arnold Kemp, was asked for an assurance that he was not a Catholic before being confirmed in the position. Women and Catholics have a better chance of securing employment, though the bylines carrying Irish-sounding names are still so rare as to be collectable.

But if the recruitment policies have largely gone, their legacy remains. In the most nepotistic of all industries, the jobs for the boys (and girls) are still overwhelmingly going to the sons and daughters of that pre-selected cultural group. This is where bigotry truly becomes inherent.

When that merely produces skewed cultural perspective, it is unfortunate and potentially damaging. When that distortion is married to a lack of decency; a culture where bigoted loathing is still acceptable, it becomes abhorrent. Yet we are requested to continue to pay for their output.

Recent months have seen as biased and conspicuously anti-Celtic news reporting as has ever been witnessed. Worst offender by far is the Daily Record. Not satisfied with actively securing the position of being the endorsed newspaper for Rangers, the paper infamously carried a caption alluding to a campaign to smear Jock Stein.

It was also the paper that intruded on the tragic passing of Tommy Burns, defying all newspaper conventions to speculate on his final moments when he should have been left in peace with his family. Its sister paper, the Sunday Mail, has been no better.

The News of the World, also true to form, chose last Sunday to speculate on the private life of Artur Boruc on its front page while the Sun went so far as to mock the violent attack on Neil Lennon with a truly despicable cartoon and a derisory and factually false report on the incident.

The Evening Times has also shown its fine colours in recent weeks, not forgetting that they too splashed Scott Brown on their front page on news of the death of his sister, despite the family having asked for privacy.

Having paid Murray mouthpiece Derek Johnstone for years to say “Rangers are great, Celtic are terrible”, we might simply have laughed at his u-turn to demand action against referees in the aftermath of a small number of decisions going against his club.

Should we succeed, they may have a new application for the word “crisis”

The Evening Times next carried a back page demand for action in the face of this “refereeing crisis”. That, we could have put down to absurdity.

The Sports Editor then devoted his back page this week to a piece that was nothing more than crowing by Andy Goram, degenerate drunk and known supporter of Loyalist terrorists; a man who once wore a black armband for a notorious Loyalist killer.

For years, newspaper editors have acted in this way in the expectation that readers will buy the papers regardless, out of habit. Why should we?

The newspaper industry is facing a circulation catastrophe. Some of them may very well fold within the next few years if downward sales trends continue.

There has never been a better time to demonstrate that we too have power. The power that comes from keeping our money in our pockets.

This Sunday and Monday is as good a time as any to start. The editors expect strong sales to follow Scotland’s international match. I would suggest that Celtic supporters disappoint them.

Specifically, I propose that Celtic supporters simply decline to buy the Sunday Mail and News of the World along with Monday’s Daily Record, Sun and Evening Times.

To do so would be a demonstration of our refusal to accept attacks on our players; refusal to accept a tacit approval of bigotry and racism.

Should we fail, the papers will dismiss this as a gesture. Should we succeed, they may have a new application for the word “crisis”.

• Celtic Underground: A Good Time For A Break

--