Pro-indy paper clashes with BBC over ‘propaganda’ claims 

The Beeb is no stranger to controversy, and now pro-independence Scottish newspaper the National is on the warpath. The editor of the secessionist journal has taken to Twitter to fume after the BBC’s business editor described her august paper as ‘propaganda’ multiple times on one of the broadcaster’s own podcasts. Talk about saying the quiet part aloud, eh?

The podcast in question is the BBC’s Media Show, featuring an interview with BBC Scotland business editor Douglas Fraser. The offending clip first features discussions of the 2014 indyref’s tenth anniversary before considering the impact of the independence debate on newspaper subscriptions. ‘One title,’ Fraser began, ‘with a strong propaganda approach to supporting independence, the National – a sister paper to the Herald, based in Glasgow – makes some waves politically through its propaganda.’ Perhaps referencing the newspaper’s dwindling circulation of, er, 3,000, Fraser added: ‘But it doesn’t suggest there’s much to be gained commercially from taking sides.’