Peter Cherbi & the Scottish Media

While I sift through several emails of files I have received from some 'guid folks', I am eagerly keeping an eye on the McKie fingerprint case where it turns out a hell of a lot of people in the legal profession knew about the 'secret report' written by Deputy Chief Constable of Tayside Jame MacKay in 2000 ... but seemingly we only hear about it now ... strange, that, isn't it ... it's almost like people in the legal profession (and an occasional politician or two) were consulted on it's contents, but helped to keep it under wraps .. for fear of what ... ? upsetting the Lockerbie Trial ? ... and denying justice to Shirley McKie ?? or maybe worse ... keeping the inpression that Scottish Law is so respectable & perfect, when the reverse is now revealed to be the case .... there's Scot's Law for us then ... a load of tosh ! ..

anyway, today, I am going to try and answer an important question coming from you guys in your emails to me .... that of, how did I get the publicity & media attention on my case, and how to handle the media ...

Now, before anything else, remember this. Lawyers hate stories appearing about their crooked deals in the press ... they absolutely HATE it .. and they go all out with their colleagues in the Law Society of Scotland to issue counter press releases against clients, hold off the record briefings against complainants, trying to stain their characters, etc .. all in an effort to get rid of the story ... so, think of me (and many others) going through all that while our stories actually made it to the media ...

Well, firstly, all the media coverage I got in "The Scotsman", in my fight against crooked lawyers, and an even more crooked Law Society of Scotland .. would now probably be impossible, as the paper no longer appears to support independent regulation of the legal profession or the standpoint of complainers such as myself, as it did from 1994-2002. In any case, the journalists who wrote the articles relating to my cases are no longer with the newspaper, some have retired, and some have transferred to other newspapers ....

I admit there are some articles recently in "The Scotsman", relating to crooked lawyers, but they seem to come more from Law Society of Scotland press releases, than they do from active complainants against lawyers (at least that is from what I've found from people contacting me since around 2003) ... and there are way too many articles written by lawyers posing as jounalists - purporting to be news ... for instance, the Tuesday edition of "The Scotsman" is probably only readable by lawyers these days .... and we all know what they are up to, don't we ....

Why is this ? well, a journalist who was at the Scotsman but who is now with a newspaper in England warned me the paper was changing its policy and that, apparently, there had been an embargo placed on articles relating to me ... was I bothered ? well, not really. I 'had my shout', as it were, so that was it ... I just had to develop other ways of getting articles into the press .. and I did as you can see from related media coverage to my fight with the lawyers this year ... taking in some political dimensions too :)

Sadly, I was told "The Scotsman" would be featuring heavier legal articles, written by lawyers, who number many now on the Scotsman staff .. actually one of those lawyers who writes their media law section, Campbell Deane, a partner in the Glasgow legal firm of Bannatyne Kirkwood, France & Co, had posession of my client file for awhile, after a request from me to represent me in legal issues involving negligent & crooked lawyers. He looked at my various cases, but of course refused to take me on (too much work, not interested, can't go up against the Law Society etc ...), so I would suppose he will certainly not be sympathetic to my cause against his own profession .. and of course, since 2003 - nothing more on me in "The Scotsman" .. surprise, surprise ....

oh well .. too bad .. there are other newspapers & media outlets out there which don't have to rely on deals to prop up their circulation through sales to professions and allowing mouthpiece propaganda articles out as 'news' ... and as we all know, the news these days, apart from TV, comes from the internet - not from newspapers that most people simply don't buy, when they can get their info & latest for free on the web rather than reading yesterday's news ...

but ... I would still advise you to read "The Herald" and the "Sunday Herald" newspapers from time to time ... they did have a campaign to bring independent regulation to the legal profession, and have featured more honest, balanced articles on complainants cases, and if you want to seek publicity on your own case, give them a call, and I'm sure they will take a look at it - but remember, have a summary of your case, don't make it complicated, and be prepared to share any evidence to back up your claims against the legal profession or whatever your story is about, so that the newspaper, whichever it is, can check your claims and satisfy itself it is a genuine story which can be published.

Whatever you do, stick to the facts. Don't ever make a claim which you can't support in evidence and never get into a slagging match with lawyers or those whom you are up against - they will only use that against you with all the power they can muster ... your honesty and your plight are your main advantages ... trust me ... I have stuck to this format, and even with everything I have said on my blog so far, or on TV, on Radio, or in the Courts,not one of the crooked lawyers or crooks at the Law Society of Scotland, could ever turn my words against me .. for it is all true .... as you can see from what I publish ...and you know what ? it happens to thousands of people ... maybe even someone you or (for the younger readership) someone your parents know ...

Oh yes .. I referred to ways in which I now get my stories out, well ... those ways are for some to wonder, and some to try and find out ... but whatever I get involved in, you can be sure it's the truth, and not some concoted pile of fiddled papers, memos and files coming out of a crooked lawyers office or cheap attempts at propaganda in the form of press releases from his colleagues at the Law Society of Scotland ... I'm into facts, not spin ...

I have been in other newspapers too, of course, even ... English newspapers !. I have also been on TV and on Radio ... so at least, others thought me credible enough to face the live media, which I did. More to come on that in a later article, when I will tell you of how I was matched against Joseph Platt (Former President of the Law Society of Scotland and Austin Lafferty (the media-ish lawyer) on Garry Robertson's Good Morning Scotland show on BBC Radio ... quite a memorable experience, and one which came off very well for us poor victims of the Scottish legal profession ....

So, before you read an article in a Newspaper - just stop and think for a bit about it ... maybe it's a story about house prices booming in your area, or a great deal with a bank or mortgage company, or that there has been an upsurge in people writing their wills because of something or other .. but hey - it turns out that the author of the article isn't a journalist at all, it's a LAWYER ! - and that lawyer's firm & profession stands to benefit from you taking your business to that same Bank they talk about (and use) .. or it provokes you into selling your home to buy another .... all on the basis of a planted article in a newspaper, written by a lawyer from the legal profession to spur on business and at the end of it, rip you off with high charges, sloppy work, and even a little embezzlement thrown in for good measure .... so remember .. what you read in the printed press these days .. might just not be true ...

So, my advice to campaigners & readers is - keep publicising your case against whoever you are fighting, and make sure that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, knows the identity of that crooked person, lawyer, or whoever has ripped you off, because the crooked among us are definitely publicity shy .. and while it might get you back some of the money you wasted on that crook, it may also stop the same thing happening to someone else ....