AS journalists arrived at Bute House following the announcement of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation as First Minister, the sense of shock was palpable.
Reporters were exasperated as they filed through the famous black door in Charlotte Square, with some having to cut their holidays short to cover the event.
Having coincidently been in Edinburgh already, I was one of the early birds and got the chance to read the temperature among correspondents upon hearing the news.
As I arrived outside to see cameras and broadcast media hastily pitching up just half an hour or so after confirmation had come through, a reporter turned and said “I think that’s independence dead now”.
After the First Minister had given her resignation speech, it became even clearer from the media’s questions – whether it was Sky, the BBC, ITV, or STV – that most journalists felt if she goes, so does the Yes campaign.
@scotnational Steph Brawn was there as Nicola Sturgeon resigned. Here's what it was like as the only pro-independence journalist #snp #nicolasturgeon #indyref ♬ original sound - The National
Glenn Campbell asked “if you can’t lead Scotland to independence, who, if anyone, can?”, and Sky followed up by questioning whether Sturgeon had been a “failure” since she had not delivered on her “founding mission”.
The BBC’s James Cook laid out how the NHS was in a “very serious” situation, how the attainment gap remained “pretty wide”, as he asked if she had any regrets about her time in the top job. When it came to ITV, it was about divisions in the party, and whether Sturgeon had lost trust of key members.
It would be foolish to suggest these are not questions that need to be asked, and it is a reporter’s job to ask the tough stuff, but what was stark was there was no space between them. Every single question had a negative slant on it with someone digging for dirt.
They all wanted to be the one to say a whole ideology had fallen and not just one important person who believed in it. Proof came later on when Campbell gloated that he had been the one to break news of Sturgeon’s resignation in a painfully egotistical headline.
The First Minister had spoken about the “brutality” of politics and the “barriers” to reasoned debate being created by people’s fixed opinions of her. She didn’t give examples of what she was referring to, but she didn’t need to. It played out in front of her and the relentless crusade of the Unionist media was there for all to see right across Scotland.
Being a pro-independence journalist is often a lonely road to follow in Scotland’s media industry, but after being in that room, it had never felt anymore necessary to continue pursuing it. Scottish audiences are being left at a disadvantage because of the tunnel vision agenda of so many news outlets and it has to change.
There is no doubt Sturgeon has become the face of the independence campaign and in this raw moment for many independence supporters, it’s perhaps hard to imagine where it goes from here.
But did they all seriously think a whole ethos and a collective belief in Scotland’s right to self-determination begins and ends with her?
No. She knows it doesn’t, we know it doesn’t, and they know it doesn’t.
I often think those who are most insecure in their approach are the ones who feel they have to shout loudest and I don’t believe any Yes supporter is blind to that when it comes to the Unionist media. They know all too well support for independence is strong and they fear it will only get stronger.
What was it V from V for Vendetta said about ideas? “Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof.”
