Has the media become an obstacle to social progress in Scotland? - Lesley Riddoch

“Or”, she asks, “have boffins become so specialised and Plain English-averse they offer little in the quest for ‘evidence-based policy making and have every reason to hide from public scrutiny?

“The mere fact I can ask these questions in a daily newspaper seems to suggest there is no media conspiracy or absolute veto on a bit of critical self examination.”

Riddoch contends: “The Scottish press prides itself on a robust, no-nonsense attitude to all officialdom and if some public figures have taken our lack of deference personally (Tony Blair famously called the Scottish press corps b******s) that's plainly been their problem.

“Maybe though, things have gone a bit too far. The complaint from academics is that the media wilfully distorts and playfully personalises all information in the interests of ‘telling a story’ and ‘boosting sales’.

“So often have they tried and failed to get serious issues covered soberly and accurately - the argument runs - which all but the naive and foolhardy now runs for the hills when press opportunities arise.

Riddoch argues that the media, of course, sees it differently. Presuming that politicians will blether and academics will state the obvious at enormous length, she claims that journalists go in hard - trying to kick life into an encounter they fully expect to become bland, reader-repelling and listener-losing.

She says: “It’s a classic catch 22. And society is the loser.”

Knowledge transfer won't work if each side is busy second guessing the other, argues Riddoch. And she says that it’s not just a media/expert problem.

“Doctors believe most patients lie. So they double the units of alcohol patients confess to drinking. Patients think safe drinking limits have a built-in safety margin. So they double the number of units doctors recommend. Hey presto - stalemate.

“When I worked for BBC Scotland, I was mystified by the reluctance of academics to get involved in the biggest issues of our time.

“Weeks of producer effort secured the controversial historian David Starkey for an hour in 2004 when his Monarchy series was showing on Channel 4. I imagined Scottish historians would be queuing up to take on the man who believes Scottish history is an irrelevance hardly worth studying compared to the driving force of English history.

“Certainly historians have holidays and prior engagements. But two weeks of increasingly frantic calling resulted in only two takers. The nationalist politician and author Mike Russell and the columnist Michael Fry.

“Why the hesitation from ‘full-time’ bread and butter academics? Scots wanted and needed to hear time-served experts grapple with a man who disparages almost every aspect of Scottish culture. It didn't happen.

“Likewise, when we persuaded a producer of the Great Global Warming Swindle documentary to be grilled before a live audience at the Royal Highland Show, no academics would debate with him.

“The professional view seemed to be that the science needed to confound the Global Warming Swindle argument was beyond the grasp of a general audience. At the last minute, some engineering and science students from Edinburgh University appeared and gave the climate change sceptic a run for his money.

“We need more from our academics. But it seems they need more from the media.”

Riddoch said that recently a group of 50 top academics met at an Edinburgh Beltane Beacon for a Public Engagement event to discuss ways to embed a greater appetite for public dialogue and knowledge transfer in new generations of researchers.

“Of course there are already science festivals, open days, outreach programmes and websites. But why are academics not at the forefront of public and media debate about the best ways to tackle Scotland's truly massive problems?

“Academic careers advance because of research papers published in academic journals - not general articles published in The Scotsman or short appearances on Good Morning Scotland or Newsnight.

“Ambiguity and uncertainty are not just tolerated in academe, but expected. And if most researchers are reluctant to draw eye-catching conclusions from the specialism that has become their life's work - how much less likely is an instant academic judgment on a breaking news story?

“And yet, that just leaves the whole business of speculation, analysis and conclusion to non-academic commentators like me - a small and often over-wrought section of society.

“Why is it so hard for academics to engage a general audience before imparting important pearls of wisdom? Everyone else learns to entertain (a bit) first and educate second. Is that too demeaning for serious people?

“Universities should be engaged, public-facing engines for social change - not ivory towers. Researchers should aim for knowledge exchange with the public, not just knowledge transfer (a one-way street in which tablets of stone are handed down by folk in ermine-edged gowns).

“Equally, the media needs to cut academics some slack and let them explain the shades of grey, caveats, exceptions, nuances and dead-ends that make up reality and improve our understanding of life more than black and white headlines.

“Perhaps the media doesn't think knowledge transfer is part of our job. But if the press has no role to play in restricting hysteria, focusing thought and encouraging problem-solving rather than hand-wringing, Scottish society is doomed.”

English-born Riddoch, who lives in Perth, spent her childhood in Belfast - moving to Glasgow in 1973 where she attended a local fee-paying public school.

In 1978 she progressed to Oxford University – graduating with an honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

She was also elected president of the Oxford Student Union in 1981, and subsequently studied for a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Cardiff University.

Riddoch founded and directed a feminist magazine known as Harpies and Quines. From 1993 to 1999, she was a contributing editor of the Sunday Herald and assistant editor of The Scotsman. She was editor of a special one-off edition of The Scotsman known as The Scotswoman - produced by the paper's female staff.

She currently writes weekly columns in the Sunday Post and The Scotsman, and occasionally contributes to The Guardian.

From 1989 to 1994 she presented the BBC Radio Scotland programme ‘Speaking Out’ and was one of the presenters of the Radio Four programme ‘You and Yours’.

Between 1999 and 2005 she had her own daily radio programme the Lesley Riddoch Programme on BBC Radio Scotland.

She currently runs her own independent radio, podcast and TV production company in Dundee - known as Feisty Ltd.

She has also worked with African women journalists to help them create a monthly web newspaper called ‘Africawoman’. Three editions of the paper were distributed on trains and buses in Scotland prior to the Gleneagles Summit in 2005.

Riddoch later received an honorary doctorate for this work from Glasgow Caledonian University.