I've just noticed that Nation.Cymru—a news website for Wales set up and edited by Ifan Morgan Jones—is now up and running.
Nation.Cymru is a news service by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales. And its success depends entirely on the people of Wales.
It is an attempt to set up a national, popular, not for profit news service, with the aim of answering the central question: ‘How can we become a better nation?’
Anyone who believes they have something to say is invited to contribute to it.
Why do we need Nation.Cymru?
We have never had a national English-language news service. The Western Mail and Daily Post are regional news services, while BBC Wales is a regional arm of a British corporation.
The Welsh media has deteriorated even further in the last few years. What remains of Wales’ regional, commercial English-language press is in sad decline.
The print circulation of our English-language papers continues to dwindle, and websites struggle to produce revenue.
As Welsh newspapers are bought by larger companies, editorial decisions are increasingly being made outside of Wales’ borders, with less and less relevance to Wales.
It is no surprise therefore that surveys have consistently shown that the people of Wales do not know what is going on in their country.
Many people do not understand what powers our parliament in Cardiff has or what can be done with them.
Meanwhile, the tectonic plates of the United Kingdom are shifting. Post-Brexit, Wales faces a turbulent economic and political future. Our nation’s very existence could be at stake.
Wales has to decide where its future lies within this new order, and Nation.Cymru can be a platform for that discussion – free from the commercial pressures that drive other newspapers and websites.
We want to include everyone in that discussion. We want to include YOU.
Starting with a bang, one of their first posts is about a YouGov survey conducted earlier this month which shows that a quarter of the population support Welsh independence, details here.
Happy reading.
8 comments:
This is great news.
Hang on, Anonymous. Good news that three-quarters of the Welsh people are opposed to Welsh independence?
No, I meant that there is new Welsh news outlet. So sod off you Labour hack.
Be careful, 00:27. That sort of language isn't justified.
But if you want to talk of Labour, I wouldn't be so negative. Labour in Wales is a very different animal from Labour in Scotland. Whatever other failings they might have, they have always shown a remarkable ability to keep in step with public opinion as it changes in Wales. I found it interesting that support for independence was so high among those who voted Labour - 29% rising to 43% if the Tories won an increased majority in June.
I can't wait for the full figures, because I suspect we will see that support for independence among those who voted Plaid Cymru is far from solid. And, in turn, this might support the idea that independence in Wales will be actually be delivered when Labour politicians in Wales come round to the idea (even if reluctantly) that independence is in the best national interest for Wales.
Fair enough, Michael. I presume you know who Mr Chapman is.
I'm not sure I do know who he is, but contributions from all sides are welcome. Perhaps he is opposed to independence, but aren't dialogue and debate better ways to get people like him to change their minds than rudeness?
Bill is certainly wrong to say that three-quarters are opposed to independence. The figure from this YouGov poll is less than half, 47% to be precise. I'll point out that he got the maths wrong, but I'm not going to call him names because he got the maths wrong. His response will show whether this was just a mistake on his part or whether he was deliberately trying to misrepresent the figures.
The delightful Mr Chapman is a Labour activist in Conwy who has been resident in Wales for several decades and has integrated not one jot. He knows exactly what the figures are and was being sarcastic. I was replying in kind, but fully accept your admonition. The likelihood of persuading Bill and his ilk that Wales requires independence is zero.
Good to see Nation up and running, lets hope it lasts longer than the other aborted attempts at building and alternative Welsh media. Whatever happens the quality of political debate has to improve and sites like this will play a vital role.
The figures show that 51% of Plaid Cymru supporters back independence which finally makes sense as to why the leaderships past and present have never pushed that hard for it.
You and others may be comfortable with Labour delivering independence but i'm certainly not, for them it's all about staying in power, not doing what best for Welsh communities, but as Plaid Cymru will never be a potion to deliver its Labour indy or bust, a depressing start to the week.
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