THE National is to be commended on the quality of its articles, both from its own journalists and invited correspondents. They are all so thought-provoking, informative and crucially important to our cause.

Not so in that other media world, and Mhairi Black put her finger on it in her fine article on Saturday (This is not on. Scotland just cannot be ignored any longer, September 14).

Mhairi says: “One journalist, whose name I forget, ... heard from a source that the Downing Street team put a huge effort into working the Sunday papers. They wanted the front pages to be friendly and comment on how well the government were doing.”

This is at the heart of scandalous problem that exists in the UK media today. The Tories feed them anything they like – from propaganda lite to outright lies – and the media snatch it and run away. No hard questions. No scrutiny. No interest in balance or integrity. Unless it’s the SNP, of course.

Post-independence, Scotland should change the rules regarding the media, ie no rich owners with their own political agendas, and no allegiances with any political party!

Dennis White
Blackwood