Letter: Watchdog call

Scotland certainly does need a media watchdog, and a good one, (Letters, 16 September) as we approach the next Scottish Parliamentary election in May next year.

Indeed, if this election is not to be treated by the media to the farcical and sometimes plain vicious reporting level of the recent general election, that watchdog must focus on the cynical subversion and dumbing down of all election broadcasting over the years.

Centre-right politicians flounder in the face of the inbuilt liberal/left bias of the media, and of the BBC in particular.

Journalists interview one another, and their incestuous views are then peddled as fact.

Eventually, the true message from all politicians is stifled and altered, as they are afraid to say what they mean, and the public is left with meaningless sound bites from which to form a sensible opinion, and election by the media prevails.

Malcolm Parkin

Gamekeepers Road

Kinnesswood, Kinross