The fightback against Sturgeon’s secret state

Few of Nicola Sturgeon’s promises have aged worse than her pledge to be ‘the most accessible First Minister ever’. The SNP launched its council elections campaign yesterday but refused to invite any print journalists: an effective press blackout designed to shield the party’s leader from questions on policy. Some newspapers declined to cover the event; others denounced it as a sham.

As Conor Matchett of the Scotsman points out, the move is in keeping with the party’s long-term media strategy: a broad distrust of the print press and a belief that independence and SNP support will be won online and on TV and not through legacy media. Newspaper sales have halved since the SNP came to power: why risk an awkward stand-off at the launch going viral when you can release hand-picked images instead?

Few governments welcome interrogation: in a nationalist party like the SNP, questions are often conflated as criticism of the state itself.