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Part of
Crisis and the Media: Narratives of crisis across cultural settings and media genres
Edited by Marianna Patrona
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 76] 2018
► pp. 177–202

Chapter 8
Impending crisis in Scotland

Political discourse in interesting times

This chapter looks at the management of political instability across the political and media spheres before and after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, and prior to the UK’s vote to exit the European Union. Looking first at a selection of political speeches, the chapter finds those politicians opposed to independence construct constitutional change as impending crisis, whereas speeches from a pro-independence position articulate the pursuit of a new political settlement as a means of crisis aversion at an EU and international level. In turning the analysis to a media context, the Scottish newspapers, all of which were opposed to independence, emphasise the threat of upheaval, and extend the crisis frame onto coverage of the economy and the National Health Service. Overall, while explicit references to crisis are comparatively unusual amongst politicians and across media, the chapter suggests the tactical use of a “crisis” frame is an important component of political discourse in times of constitutional uncertainty.

Keywords: the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, constitutional uncertainty, crisis frame, political speeches, newspaper reports, political leaflets
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Language and national/political identity
  • Method
  • The chaos of constitutional uncertainty
  • Contesting crisis in political speeches: From imperilling the UK to UK irresponsibility
  • Crisis and constitutional distractions: The pre-referendum press
  • Discourses of neglect: Crisis in the post-referendum press
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Newspaper articles
  • References
Published online: 22 February 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.76.09hig
References

Newspaper articles

Carrell, Severin and Nicholas Watt
2012 “Salmond sets poll date – and defies London”, The Guardian 11 January.Google Scholar
Clegg, David
2015 “Scotland Bill heads for crisis as SNP and UK Treasury hit brick wall over fiscal framework”, Daily Record 20 November.Google Scholar
Daily Record
2014 “NHS is a failure of Scottish leadership”, Daily Record 28 May.Google Scholar
2014 “NHS in crisis but all SNP care about is winning independence referendum”, Daily Record 25 June.Google Scholar
Guy, Rachel
2015 “Brown warns over second referendum”, Scottish Sun 25 April.Google Scholar
Hebditch, Jon
2016 “Met Office warn of more heavy downpours in north-east as shopkeepers try to recover”, Press and Journal 6 January.Google Scholar
Jackson, Debbie
2016 “Tyra Banks tries to help folk get work, but cracks up Scottish Twitter with her ‘jobby’ accident”, Daily Record 6 January.Google Scholar
Martin, Tom
2015 “SNP has put NHS in crisis”, Scottish Daily Express 22 October.Google Scholar
Peterkin, Tom and David Maddox
2015 “Brown challenges Sturgeon on second referendum”, The Scotsman 23 July.Google Scholar
Roden, Alan
2015 “Treasury in crisis mode amid fears of SNP plot to scupper Scotland Bill”, Scottish Daily Mail 20 November.Google Scholar

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