‘Trump-like’ Salmond told to ‘grow up’ after Scots press attacks
ALEX SALMOND’S attacks on Scotland’s journalists were criticised by leading international campaigners yesterday.
The former First Minister last week told an audience at his Edinburgh Fringe show that the country’s press are “despised”.
Reporters Without Borders, the respected international organisation campaigning for press freedom around the world, said his remarks were regrettable and compared them to Donald Trump’s “fake news” invective against the American media. It said Mr Salmond’s comments encourage a “hostile attitude towards the press” and “serve to erode the climate for free expression”.
The National Union of Journalists branded his remarks “immature”.
Speaking at his Edinburgh Fringe show, Mr Salmond said: “The press are largely despised not just because of what they write, but also because of what they don’t write and the ignorance, the prejudice that that displays.” Then, in an interview with the Big Issue, the former SNP leader suggested that Scottish journalists should be more patriotic and that, “apart from about six decent political journalists in Scotland – the rest are a waste of space.
“Everyone has to earn a crust, I get that, but there are some things you just shouldn’t do and running down your country is one of them. I don’t know how they live with themselves.”
Rebecca Vincent, UK director of Reporters Without Borders, said: “Alex
Salmond has unfortunately become the latest in a long line of public figures displaying a hostile attitude towards the press, such as Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Andrea Leadsom in the UK, and, globally, figures like Donald Trump.
“Comments like these only serve to erode the climate for free expression.”
Analysis from the official National Readership Survey shows that every day 1.9 million Scots read a daily newspaper, either in print or online. Paul Holleran, Scottish organiser of the National Union of Journalists, said: “There is an immaturity around politicians when it comes to the press.
“The press is there to hold them to account and these sorts of comments foster an unhealthy attitude towards the press at a time when we need reporters more than ever.”
Mr Salmond was also critical of BBC coverage before the 2014 referendum when he praised protesters marching on the broadcaster’s Scottish HQ.