Fighting for horsemeat
In what may be a new all-time low for the broadsheet press in Scotland, this morning’s Scottish edition of the Telegraph makes a front-page lead story out of a petition with a pathetic 4500 signatures, put together by some extremist Yoon nutters to express their rage that there might be a peak-time news show actually made in Scotland.
The idea of a so-called “Scottish Six”, whereby the main six o’clock news bulletin would be a single programme made by BBC Scotland and covering Scottish, UK and world news – rather than the current half-hour London-centric UK programme followed by 30 minutes of regional murdur’n’fitba in Reporting Scotland – has been exercising the media (and pretty much nobody else) for the best part of 20 years.
But now it’s become a constitutional battleground, and the funny thing about it is that the two sides are fighting bitterly over something neither of them actually really wants.
Among politicians there’s actually widespread multi-party support for a Scottish Six. Although the idea was blocked in 1998 by an alliance of Tony Blair and the BBC chairman Lord Birt expressly because it might lead to an increase in support for independence, Unionist parties tend to fear that opposing it now looks rather too obviously like “Scottish cringe”.
That hasn’t stopped their supporters, and the more trollish elements of the Scottish media, from kicking up a vitriolic outrage about it on social media. Amusingly, one particularly vociferous critic of the SNP put up a Twitter poll on the subject, only to delete it in a massive sulk when people who didn’t agree with him voted on it:
Having not liked the outcome of a free and open vote, the furious “Pouters” took to Change.org instead, a site last seen hosting a campaign to expose the Oxford English Dictionary as a hotbed of Scottish separatism.
Accusing the democratically-elected Scottish Government of an attempt at “thought control”, the petitioners limped to their dismal total (which has added about 700 more votes since last night to reach 5258, or almost 0.3% of the people who voted No in the independence referendum), which the Telegraph bemusingly felt was enough to merit a front-page headline.
(For some perspective on that number, a petition on the same site demanding the SNP put a 2018 independence referendum in their 2016 manifesto has gathered 13,870 supporters, and one calling for an end to pig wrestling at the Whitby Fair has collected over 34,000. Alert readers may also recall that our own Change.org petition for Gordon Brown to “Go f**k yourself” was signed by almost 14,000 people without getting any front pages.)
What all this must mean, then, is that Yes types will all be enthusiastically in favour of the “Scottish Six”, right? Except that they don’t really care either, because most people of a pro-independence persuasion can think of almost nothing less appealing than a double-length Reporting Scotland.
(It’s the one politics-related show this site can never bring itself to watch, even for professional reasons. We’ll very occasionally sit through an episode of Scotland 2016 just to double its audience, and we rarely miss Sunday Politics Scotland, but RS is a parochial and institutionally-biased embarrassment of a programme, existing primarily as the broadcast arm of Scottish Labour’s press office.)
A few have made sincere, passionate and eloquent defences of the idea in theory, but the harsh truth is that most Nat types like the idea of a Scottish Six purely because it drives Unionists into such a rage. The chances of any significant numbers of them actually bothering to watch it once it existed would be slim, because BBC Scotland long ago exhausted any last reserves of goodwill it had among Yes voters.
If it does happen, Unionist opposition (and the cack-handed way it’s been handled by BBC Scotland’s comically inept leadership) has all but guaranteed that it’d end up a half-hearted, under-resourced shambles – the news equivalent of Sportscene versus Match Of The Day, serving only to make Scots feel bad about their own country.
It’s perhaps taking cynicism a step too far to suppose that it may well go ahead for that very reason.
In the meantime, though – largely for lack of anything better to do as the slow trudge towards what still looks like a foregone conclusion of a election continues – the hardcore on both sides will wage a phoney war over it, like people who aren’t all that hungry battling for a lump of something neither of them actually much wants to eat.
No war here .I just don’t want more BBC Propoganda.
We can look forward to 60 minutes of “SNP Bad” as opposed to just 30!
Can’t wait…
From my own POV it’s all a bit academic. I no longer pay a TV license and watch legally via catchup/streaming. If they’d done this years ago perhaps it’d matter to me.
“in truth Nat types mainly like the idea of a Scottish Six purely because it drives Unionists into such a rage.”
You make it sound like this is a bad thing…
Pig-wrestling in Whitby ? Are the participants naked ? I think Mr Cameron should be informed.
Parochial. That word sums up RS perfectly.
What I find amazing in Scotland is the complete lack of daily news coverage for local issues.
Having lived in Sweden for several years, in a city of equivalent size to the one I live in now, it amazes me that the Swedes were able to get two competing local newspapers published each and every day about news happening at the local level. On top of that they had two news channels for the region as well.
In Scotland we can’t even get a thirty minute slot of NATIONAL news organised that people actually want to watch.
Rule Britannia!
Disgraceful.
As far as I’m concerned (one lone voice to be sure) the BBC can peddle its propaganda elsewhere. They’ve burned their bridges in Scotland and seem to fight tooth and nail against any ‘devolution’ of broadcasting.
I agree that even though a ‘Scottish Six’ news programme does eventually get off the ground, I don’t imagine many people will be impressed by it. Their viewing figures could be as paltry as Labour in Scotland’s membership numbers.
The BBC should be booted out of Scotland altogether but until then aye lets push for this, could be a laugh seeing how badly they will try to make it, if it upsets the poor feart cringing wee Yoons then all the fuckin better 🙂
Don’t get this, its more jobs, stronger BBC in Scotland, more chance to shine for those currently there.
And there’s the thing, you cant shine a turd, it would need root and branch clearing and a restart.
So a double dose of distorting Scotland hosted by the same motley crew? No ta. The Slabbers may be slabbering at a double dose of positive PR, no doubt with Sarah Smith at its heart. So its a no for me, even if it winds up yoons. I want rid, end of.
Good article Rev, and agree that an hour-long Reporting Scotland would do even more damage to the Scottish psyche.
Having read the Cosgrove article linked to in your piece, we find this excerpt:
“Those that pillory the BBC from the perspective of the independence movement have to accept that the grievances left behind in the wake of the referendum now need to be laid to rest.”
While it would be churlish to suggest that Cosgrove’s perspective is in any way connected to his receipt of a BBC salary, he spectacularly misses the point, which is that very many of us will never, ever forgive the BBC for their behaviour during the referendum campaign.
Not ever, Mr Cosgrove. Remember that next time you’re giggling alongside Jim Murphy on Off the Ball.
“And there’s the thing, you cant shine a turd, it would need root and branch clearing and a restart.”
But it wouldn’t get them.
Everyone agrees it’s OBVIOUSLY what any remotely self-respecting country would do. They just don’t want BBC Scotland in charge of it.
Whilst control of state broadcasting remains in London and the current management and editorial staff remain in Scotland, they could make a Scottish 6, 7, 8, and 9 for all I care. I still wouldn’t watch it.
Still when just the thought of it sends some folk into a froth, it does raise a smile. Always said all that cereal can’t be good for you. 🙂
the point isn’t to have a double length reporting scotland, the point is to see how good a global news programme based in scotland could be.
Exactly right Rev. Half an hour of extended pish is not something I would wish for. Just surprised so many Yes supporters are behind it, they must be gluttons for punishment.
Well said Rev! You are not wrong — I could never bring myself to watch any ‘news’ as seen through the eyes of the BEBC (British Establishment Broadcasting Corporation). I might end up believing Scotland could never cope with Independence or maybe even, heaven help us, consider voting ‘Scottish’ Labour — scary!!!
Yet another sign of britnat desperation.
Now, back to Frank Bough in the Grandstand studio.
How quickly the debate has shifted from “lets use the BBC to create Scottish TV industry by setting up a channel” to “here is a shitty news show for you plebs, now eat yer cereal”.
Someone actually suggested we get good value because the BBC makes us ScotSquad and River City. Both of which are used by Yoons to tell us how shit Scottish TV would be with indy.
It could be a fantastic opportunity. BBC detests much of Scotland, focused entirely on London, the US, royals, Bojo, celebs etc.
We could have actual news from Scotland’s other neighbours like Scandinavia and Ireland for starters, instead of the decades long BBC blackout of these countries.
I think we do need a ‘Scottish six’ for exactly the reasons already given but 3.5m was the costs quoted.
While the S6 is being talked about, would this mean any further devolution of broadcasting be put on the back burner?
Would that programme be it?
BREAKING NEWS: Some Woman in Lockerbie wants Scotland to continue as a “region” …
I’ve got a different headline for them. Time is UP for the BBC like the printed press it wasn’t listening and it’s heading for the rocks.
Curious that even with the outburst of creativity that the thought of independence has brought to the the Scottish arts, this post and BTL posters believe we are too wee too poor and too stupid to make a success of a Scottish Six! :0
The only excuse you can make for this “mis-speak” is that you believe the bosses at Pathetic Quay can kibosh our natural talent, however these are the bosses that have managed to get the majority of Scots to think that the BBC is rubbish whereas in the rest of the UK 75% think the BBC are the bees knees. I doubt the high head yins of the Beeb are happy with the way their reputation has been trashed by the Glasgow mafia and I suspect that more will find themselves working on the next Charter renewal after this one goes through.
So which is it, ‘we cant fight the Beeb’ or TWTPTS?
Would not watch supposing they strapped me to a chair and forced my eyelids open with matchsticks.
Scottish media types were bad enough during the referendum, but a year and a half out, they are all orders of magnitude worse in their bonkers hostility to Scotland and it’s elected government. They’re not even pretending to pretend any more. Every single day on twitter is a massive troll-fest for Scottish journalists.
Their opposition to a Scottish 6, all other things aside, is fucking pure comedy, as was their reaction to a deal being struck over the fiscal framework. Whilst their print output has a thin veneer of ‘churnalism’ and an air of ‘in the know’, their online output betrays them as the childish britnats they actually are; spitting the dummy, pointing and laughing, and licking JK’s arsehole whenever she makes a virtual appearance.
I’m not saying Scots should be demanding a better class of journalists, but merely that the ones they have are largely a shower of dimwitted talentless wankers in service to a state that will never repay them for their relentless and unconditional support. Fucking scum. The worst of Scotland.
See, you’ve gone too far there Rev – Sportscene, as presented by Dougie Donnelly and Archie MacPherson, was the single most brilliant, awesome, and brilliant program Scotland has ever seen. I’m tearing up just thinking about it. When they added Hazel Irvine to the format I nearly came in my pants
Extraordinary to see the exposure of the Press with the new awareness brought about by the Independence campaign.
First it just looked like their arses were hanging out of their shabby clothes, but now we see it’s not just the Emperor has no clothes, but his whole court of hangers on have no where to hide their inadequacies.
The Times, once the Thunderer, now sounds like a wheezy squeak, an image reinforced by K Farquharson going there.
There may have been a time when the block of Labour MPs in Westminster seemed like some expression of power for Scotland, but we saw how even the Parliamentary Lab Party saw them as fat arses taking up space. Useful for voting but little else.
The ‘grandees’ of “scottish’ newspapers have become the same embarrassment.
I’m still surprised by the acceptance of the public of pronouncements from politicians like Forsythe and Foulkes. ignoring them doesn’t seem enough. if we had a press and broadcaster representing people of Scotland they simply wouldn’t be asked to speak.
But while we have Westminster it will go on.
Just what we need a whole hour each week night of a Labour Party Political Broadcast whingeing on every night with another SNP bad story – no thanks.
A true scottish 6 with proper unbiased news would be welcome but then again pigs are more likely to fly first,
And would introduction of a ‘Scottish Six’ bring all the current ‘TV licence free’ people back into the fold? Having weaned themselves off the propaganda emanating from the box in the corner, why on earth would they choose to go back to being the knowing target of the BBC & it’s machinations on behalf of WM.
Once you choose not to accept (& pay for) that propaganda, it strikes me that your trust has gone in the provider. Could you ever get that trust back again? I’m not sure that I ever could.
An hour of news about Scotland, about the world from a Scottish perspective, about Scottish institutions, culture, sport and the environment. What’s not to like?
Head of news is Sarah Smith!
If we get a Scottish Six I would guess the only thing true Scottish ingredient in it would be its geographical location.
Let the EBC spread its anti SCOTTISH propaganda in its own back yard. IT AINT WANTED HERE. Anybody who wishes to watch that crap should move to EBCs Motherland.
My 2 favourite parts of the article above. Put a big dirty grin on my face and nodded head in total agreement.
“It’s the one politics-related show this site can never bring itself to watch, even for professional reasons. We’ll very occasionally sit through an episode of Scotland 2016 just to double its audience, and we rarely miss Sunday Politics Scotland, but RS is a parochial and institutionally-biased embarrassment of a programme, existing primarily as the broadcast arm of Scottish Labour’s press office.”
“in truth Nat types mainly like the idea of a Scottish Six purely because it drives Unionists into such a rage. The chances of any of them actually watching it once it existed would be slim”
My stance on a “Scottish Six?” – Despicable embarrassing insult!
Once again we allow London to throw a few measly stale crumbs in our direction to deflect away from the reality that we are more than capable of having the real thing, it’s called independence.
Stop allowing London to set the pace and dictate what we debate.
Good article Rev, cheers! Right, back to the grindstone!
SNP x 2 = BULLSEYE
Can’t altogether agree with the thrust of this essay.
Any news station based in Scotland creates jobs, and spin-off programming, makes links internationally, and attracts services.
It offers a genuine platform of debate by people dedicated to improving Scotland’s lot, not there to push Westminster ideology. And with enough professionalism it will boost confidence.
If there are ‘Nat types happy to drive unionists into a rage’ then their energies are squandered.
Doubts are the same as those attached to the Herald group producing a Scottish national paper. BBC Scotland has an anti-Scot culture bias because staff are either inculcated to think their backyard small potatoes, or they don’t have a budget, or are plain fearful of losing preferment for promotion being on short-term contracts.
The ethos of Pacific Quay is at odds with a free thinking Scottish international news service. So, any negotiations should be to establish a truly independent news service.
That BBC London will give it a shoestring budget and unhappy presenters is a given. Suspicious of BBC motives is no reason to dismiss the idea.
Rejection on the grounds argued may as well apply to all programming, documentary, sport, drama, and even our parliament – an institution the ‘gift’ of Westminster, yet it has illuminated hard political realities the people of Scotland probably were unaware.
I am not with you on this. A move to a Scottish Six is all part of the journey to becoming a normal country. For a start it would make STV sit up and challenge this move.
I am with Lesley Riddoch in stating that Radio Scotland has being doing this for 30 odd years. Admittedly, it has declined in quality from how it started out but that is because of the woeful management of MacQuarrie and Boothman.
They will soon be out of the picture.
When I first read it, I couldn’t help but reading; “Lord Brit”. LOL
Spot on. A Scottish Six will be useless without a new Scottish Broadcasting Corporation with a Scottish Broadcasting Trust, new management and new editorial controls.
Although it might be good for the occasional laugh and cringe, it may vaguely serve to press BBC RUK further on the financial front.
I really don’t care at all for a Scottish Six.
But if it annoys those swivel-eyed yoons, I’m all for it. 🙂
It’s a strange thing but STV regional news manages to run rings round the hopeless BBC.
Half of the Scottish News has already been on the UK bulletin, the rest is some Mr Bean capers with Jamie Maciver, the will he wont he explode on live TV Brian Taylor, and Jackie “condescending” Bird. Make it an hour, then I can relieve my stress from the working day by swearing at the TV.
Too little Too late.
I would only see this as an attempt to re-package their (be a good citizen)agenda.
Yes we need a different kind of TV news,but not from a “state broadcaster”.
I could be persuaded to pay a TV tax again if it funded something along the lines of the ” Public Access Television” that currently operates in Texas.
That’s a set up where groups and individuals get studio’s and air time to produce their own programs with a minimalist set of guidelines to adhere to.
After the quality stuff I saw produced online during the referendum I could see a format like that (pardon the pun) taking Wing’s.
Don’t get me wrong it does produce some dross but that’s reflected in the viewing figures.
Problem with this is that we don’t have the rights of expression Americans have,so the government would have to give up controll of broadcasting.
Can’t see that happening this side of Scotland’s written Constution, and even then it would need to be fought for.
Don’t watch BBC news anymore so don’t really care what they do as it won’t persuade me to watch or believe them again.
They burnt their “neutral”, “impartial” and “truthful” bridges long ago as far as I am concerned.
For me there is no way back. I now access my news from a variety of sources and then make up my own mind.
I think that’s called “thinking for yourself” and it’s what mature adults are supposed to do is it not?
“those that pillory the BBC from the perspective of the independence movement have to accept that the grievances left behind in the wake of the referendum now need to be laid to rest.”
You say that Mr Cosgrove, but the translation reads
“I forlornly wish that the grievance and bad feeling we the BBC so engendered in the Scottish mind, would dissipate and be forgotten or at best be forgiven, for were we not just doing our patriotic duty to this great united kingdom, where by the grace of God, the sun will never set on our glorious britannic majesties empire. Yes we prostituted ourselves, yes we debased the profession of journalist, yes we destroyed the myth of independence from government, but were cheeky chappies, listen to us discussing football, were sick as a parrot that the independence supporters would be so baaaad. I am over the moon about the Scottish 6, more jobs for the boyos and silly billy goats!”
There Cosgrove fixed that for you
From rancid The Graun
“Lord Birt believed at the time that a Scottish Six O’Clock News would have been “totemic” of the break-up of the UK, only a year after Scotland had voted for devolution.
“I argued that we should follow constitutional change; it was not our role to lead it. Mr Blair was quick, as ever, to grasp the case. ‘Let’s fight,’ he said,” Lord Birt revealed in an interview with the Sunday Herald.
It is alleged that Mr Blair enlisted the help of Peter Mandelson,”
At the same time, BBC Eastenders soap had long running tradition of Scots monsters playing through merry olde Eastend life, a wife beating then wife murdering Scots monster, then a child rapist teacher Scots monster, at which point I gave up on Eastenders. So it could have got even more horrifying.
Considering the assorted paedo’s and rapists employed by the BBC at the time, but knew nothing about ofcourse, its even more disgusting.
A scottish lience fee fully funded independent Scottish News program,with no contact from London BBC, and brand new presenters.
Oh fuckit thats what we’re doing with independence.
We all understand that the more insecure Unionists are desperately trying to play down Scottishness and push UKOKery at every turn.
Political and constitutional manoeuvring aside, it is completely indefensible, illogical and undemocratic that Scots have English domestic affairs (education, health, etc etc) endlessly beamed into our homes while our own equivalent affairs are shunted into also-ran slots.
What sort of Scot actually wants to watch English issues which are irrelevant, and worse, shown to the exclusion of relevant Scottish issues?
My answers: someone Hell bent on betrayal!
Andrew McLean: “You say that Mr Cosgrove”
Mr Cosgrove can’t bite the hand that feeds him, merely give it a good natured nip.
D’you think its occurred to them that they’re shooting themselves in the foot?
I mean with the current competence reserved and the current management still in place… a whole hour of murdurr, fitba and kittens.
Jayzus… All that cereal. 😮
As one of the posters has already said “They ain’t even hiding their bias anymore”.
How true that is.Every day on twitter we see these people attacking the SNP and their supporters. This is the BBC crew and also those who worked for STV.(Daisley)
They are steeped in Labour and other Unionist connections to such an extent that any pretence of neutrality is undone.
Let me be clear. I would love an independent news programme which gave a balanced view and criticism where it was deserved,but I know that the same people in situ at the moment have no chance of achieving that aim. They are blinded by hate which affects their professional judgement.
Therefore we would have the same old same old,but in a shiny new dress. No thanks.
Can’t we ask RT (or even RTE) to do a dedicated Scottish news at 6. More would watch that than would watch BBC.
The Scottish 6 would have Tokyo Kaye and J Burd as anchor with Saaraah Smith and Magnusson doing politics,
with the idiot boy James `Absolute chaos on the streets of Glasgow`Cook dragged back from wherever he has been dumped making up stuff live from the streets,
and lickspittle Neil Oliver telling us how Sh*te Scotland has always been and that we should be thankful to live under the Westminster yoke.
cannae wait.
BBC Shortbread & BBC Radio Shortbread are parochial embarrassments, grudgingly created to appease who knows what, during a time when Scottish independence was ironically, a dream of the few.
I no longer pay for their television output as most of it, but especially Reporting Scotland, only ever produced extreme feelings of awkwardness & cringe.
BBC Shortbread is a hangover of a different era, still clinging to the belief that only London has the real talent as well as the national & global awareness needed to deliver a succinct, balanced & fair summary of current affairs.
Of course, the BBC in London does none of this anymore, if ever. It’s own propaganda, designed to prop up a right wing, neoconservative agenda is as plain to see as its stupid, distorted weather maps, which make England look much larger that it actually is in relation to the rest of the UK.
In fact, you can just use the weather map as a barometer of BBC groupthink. As Britain’s power & influence continue to shrink into irrelevance, the BBC nevertheless tries to help Britain puff up an imaginary image of itself.
It is no surprise then, that a lunatic Unionist fringe thinks that Scots should be denied their own properly funded news bulletin at 6pm. It stabs at the heart of the idea of a Britain, still owned, run & financed by an elite in London.
Very well put.
BBC stars, or Scottish horrors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Morgan_(EastEnders)
Why they kept using Scottish characters in such horrific roles and not say, upper class English men, Etonian, Oxbridge, high paid, like Lord Birt or anyone BBC staff really, is another UKOK mystery.
The Scottish teacher character that raped his under-age pupil doesn’t make the past Eastenders hall of fame cut but his story line dragged on for a long time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/2fSSNHD2Mv2jlbKZtpF9Yrt/past-characters?page=3
I long ago ceased to watch any BBC news output or even visit their website. I even switched from their weather page to the Met Office one so disgusted by their coverage of the IndyRef etc I was.
However, I will be watching at least the first few episodes of a Scottish Six, more in hope than expectation but I think we need to meet the Beeb half way on this piece of realpolitik appeasement. And besides, there’s always C4 News at 7 as usual if it’s pish. I rely on the web for Scottish coverage.
I note STV have promised a digital rival. Pity our non smart TV won’t be able to view it but it too might be worth a look. STV were marginally better balanced than Aunty.
The Scottish Six as envisaged by the BBC is to “shape the day’s news in a way relevant to Scottish audiences”. It is the News from London’s view altered slightly to be “relevant to Scottish audiences”.
It is not the News, national, local, international, created, edited and from the viewpoint of people living in Scotland. A News program that would be worth watching if you were in England, or France or Spain and say that is the view of the World’s News from Scotland.
Now I am all for the News coming from Scotland, from a decent well funded and well staffed outfit, producing programs that are so general and well done that they are good viewing no matter where in the world you are.
I suspect that the BBC has no intention at all of allowing that to happen.
I don’t think the problem’s so much with the idea of the new news it’s that It’ll be the same bunch of Yoons presenting it so the expectation of change is low
Let’s face it who’s looking forward to Jackie Burd welcoming us all to the new Scottish 6, coz if that’s what they do, and they probably will I don’t see the half of Scotland who wanted change not to be instantly shouting “Aargh fur Fukc sake” at the telly box
Longer interviews with Jackie Baillie, Whinier high pitched Kezia Dugdale for interminable lengths of time, Willie Rennie telling us all what makes perfect sense is to listen to him and the final nail in the programmes coffin “The Gordon Brewar political analysis slot”
Oh dear god make it stop, take this picture from my mind
Scotland should be careful what it thinks it wishes
You know they’ll talk about Scottish arts and culture which would be fine except the people they always get on don’t know anything about them, Siobhan Synnott droning vacuously and knowledgelessly on and then getting in an SNP Baad at the end
Bryan Burnett telling us what music is important and what isn’t and “my life is more better than yours but I’m self deprecating about it” the young folk will love that Ooooh
I’m stopping now coz I’ve hurt my head banging it off the edge of my printer and I just want to die not looking or thinking about this anymore
Goodbye cruel world
I think most people in Scotland are anaesthetised to SNPbad so it could be good for Scotland to have a Scottish Six but then I haven’t given it a great deal of thought and could be wrong.
I’d be inclined to try it on the premise that they can’t get any worse.
And thanks Rev for letting me know there was a petition for an Indyref2 in 2018. Now signed
“A few have made sincere, passionate and eloquent defences of the idea in theory …”. That’s not what struck me most about Cosgrove’s article in Bella. The following excerpt was what caught a number of people’s attention.
“Those that pillory the BBC from the perspective of the independence movement have to accept that the grievances left behind in the wake of the referendum now need to be laid to rest.”
I could hardly believe that someone in his position could be so out of touch with just how much of a danger to Independence many of us consider the BBC to be. And how much we detest it. The idea of a Scottish Six being put forward by a London and Unionist controlled BBC is like the future victims of a paedophile being granted a say in the colour of his boxer shorts. It’s obscene.
Here’s how much I trust the BBC Mr. Cosgrove. If I have the misfortune to hear a radio presenter saying “This is the BBC News at midday”, I immediately go outside and check how high the sun is in the sky.
As I said on Derek Bateman’s thread on this topic, I no longer watch any of the so-called news output from the state propaganda broadcaster, nor for that matter their ITV equivalents.
There really is no way back for the establishment propaganda machine, with their constant attacks on the elected Scottish Government and their bias and lies (see G. A. Ponsonby and Prof. John Robertson for detailed exposure of their duplicity).
Time to rid Scotland of this machinery of colonialism.
The last two sentences……”Scotland is well served by the BBC both on the television and the radio.
We do not want state propaganda tv controlled by the SNP”
I think the brainwashing’s working…They don’t realise that the BBC is state propaganda controlled (Along with all the other MSM) by wastemonster).
PQ Meeting Room
‘I know we’re fukced,what can we do’?
‘Rebrand it,give it a splash of ginge,no a new name,market it as……’scot-flix ……..scot-boke……..Scottish-Six’
‘Naw we’re fukced’
They know the games up ‘as out of place,as a left handed violinist in a crowded string section’ :-/
never forgotten,never watched,never listened,never forgiven.
Grouse Beater says: 11:24 am
“You say that Mr Cosgrove”
Mr Cosgrove can’t bite the hand that feeds him, merely give it a good natured nip.
Surely you meant,
Mr Cosgrove can’t bite the arse that he feeds off, merely give it a good natured lick.
or am I “off the ball”
We do not watch the BBC Scotlandshire SNP Bad shortbread “news”.
Haven’t watched it for a long time. Probably since pre Indy1 (The Awakening).
As for a Scottish Six. This would just allow them to stop giving out any Westminster news that doesn’t fit in with the SNP Bad, Too Wee, Too Poor, Too Stupid, SNP Bad agenda by focusing on the made up SNP Bad stories.
SNP Bad by the way.
OT. Other half was on a train to Aberdeen a while ago and who was in the First Class section close to her? None other that Jackie the Bird bird.
Other half said she was amazed when she got up to leave that she didn’t appear to have any arse at all and looked severely anorexic.
Was good to know that BBC Tax payers are funding 1st Class tickets for the so called “Talent”.
You can’t have the Scots being allowed to escape the unionist brainwashing, by having their own Scottish news
programme.
What would we Scots do without the wisdom of Cameron etc to advise us about this wonderful union we are part of.
And how could we possibly cope, as Johann Lamont once told us, that Scots are not genetically programmed to make decision.
@I Clark
You’ve got to laugh at Stuart Cosgrove with his “lay our grievances to rest” patter “coz I might get a job”
Does he not realise this is Scotland, our grievances last 300 years
Do Rangers forgive Celtic or the other way round, do separated spouses ever stop hating each other
Is the man not from here, what a donut
Any real Scot sees a red coat and thinks Highland Clearances
I love all these “We’ve got to put it behind us” folk
Well NAW so there, Yees robbed me ya Bastirts so yees don’t get aff wae it even until the end of time
Now that’s Scotland
From the Guardian, yesterday morning:
“STV is to launch a new digital news service, taking the fight to the BBC’s services in Scotland.
The service, which launches next month, includes allowing users of the completely overhauled STV News app to access a full spectrum of international, UK and Scottish news for the first time.
“The service will enable us to cover an editorial narrative we never have been able to before – the provision of international news and UK-wide news from a Scottish perspective,” said Rob Woodward, the chief executive of STV, the ITV licence holder in Scotland.
“Since the independence referendum there has been a rise in the awareness of Scotland as a nation and there is an appetite to understand its positioning in a UK and global perspective.”
Fine then yoons, let’s not have a “Scottish” football team or a “Scottish” rugby team that you all go and watch in the 4 1/2 nations and have a jolly time singing Flower of Scotland at.
Where do these people come from? There are desperately trying to hold back the inevitable in any way they can.
“You can’t polish a turd”
That has to be the best description of RS to date.
The thought of Jackie Burd skilfully acting out double the amount of SNP bad/ ScotLab good stories gives me the book.
The only reason for anyone with any intilligence watching RS is if you have missed out your daily dose of outrage and bewilderment.
Or if Hothreshall has been quiet on twitter.
Same thing I suppose.
No…… It has to be started with a clean sheet sans broadcasters with affiliated track recorde or at least turns each.
Ponsonby in charge ???
Would it be excessively cynical to suggest that BBC bosses seem intent on sabotaging the entire project? It certainly seems that they are managing to turn a fairly straightforward project into an industrial dispute and a public relations disaster. If you wanted to derail a ‘Scottish Six’, what better way than to ‘forget’ little things like normal consultation procedures so as to provoke immediate antipathy. When it all goes pear-shaped, you get to pin the blame firmly on the intransigence of trade unions.
There’s nothing new in any of this. An old acquaintance of mine who worked for many years in car manufacturing reckoned that at least half the strikes which plagued the industry in the 1970s were deliberately provoked by bosses to cover up supply-chain failures caused by management incompetence.
Look at the way BBC management are handling the ‘Scottish Six’ project and ask yourself if this is the behaviour of people keen to make it succeed.
Look at the way they’ve contrived it so that the all-important pilots are going to be a rush job produced by people who have been thoroughly alienated from the outset. Isn’t that exactly what you’d do if you wanted to ensure those pilots were of such poor quality as to scupper the project completely?
And while we’re at it we might want to turn that cynical eye on the BBC’s ‘focus group’ research. We haven’t seen any of the detail, of course. We are presented only with the conclusions. But isn’t it striking how conveniently these conclusions accord with the British establishment’s views on a ‘Scottish Six’, in particular, and attitude to broadcasting and audiences in Scotland more generally?
Before I start properly
Lanarkist:
Sarah Smith is NOT Head of News at BBC Scotland, she is “Scottish Editor”, This means, she is BBC London’s honcho, on the rare occasions they decide to run a Scottish political story.
London WILL NEVER allow a Scottish Six, this would be against everything the BBC stands-for, as the de facto “Oh no we are not, we are independent don’t you know” State Broadcaster.
No potential rival to the status quo of: “London knows best” can even be considered, far less tolerated.
I fear too, even if it were to come about, any Scottish Six would be Glasgow-centric, rather than London-centric.
Certainly, in my own field of sports journalism, it would be virtual wall-to-wall Old Firm, to the exclusion of just about everything else.
BBC Haw Haw becomes the SS.
If they could present political news stories in a fair and neutral manner then it would have at least a slim chance of succeeding. It won’t do that so it’s just a London fob. They must think we’re all a bunch of dafties up here.
Am no’ convinced.
The BBC is an embarrassment to Scotland, it couldn’t be that bad by accident, only by design. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that we have the talent, they just are not employed at the BBC or STV for that matter.
So long as Byrd, Magnusson, Campbell and there like are there, it will never, ever meet the standards of impartiality we demand.
I have little doubt, that the selection process used by the BBC is little better than the Labour party, a very low bar.
We’ll very occasionally sit through an episode of Scotland 2016 just to double its audience, and we rarely miss Sunday Politics Scotland, but RS is a parochial and institutionally-biased embarrassment of a programme, existing primarily as the broadcast arm of Scottish Labour’s press office.
Beautifully put, Rev. As for a Scottish Six produced by the State Broadcaster, no thanks.
I would welcome a Scottish Six cautiously. It cannot be worse than the present Reporting Scotland. Hopefully it might develop beyond the usual staple of murders and football. It will be interesting to see how much resource and funding is given to it.
@Dr Jim
That was good…don’t join the circus though. 🙂
Haven’t watched the BBC tv news for a long time now but still tune in to hear the latest Scottish Yootopian ‘news where you are’ radio version, just to keep tabs on it. 🙁
Ach give it a go! But with some new faces and fresh talent not any of the old crew otherwise forget it.
PS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewAhqjfMiEY
Good to see the yoons running scared now – Project Feart!
Everything is going wrong for them – Carmicheal, Forth Bridge, No detriment, Labour Party split, Tory party split, Lib Dems finished and a possible brexit and indyref2.
Scottish Six may happen but it will most likely just a hour of #SNP bad. I would not watch it anyway.
But good to see the SNP putting the boot into the BBC in the background. Any pressure on them to cut the propaganda levels is good.
Here is another thought ?
If SLAB come third in May will BBC Scotland swing behind the Tories and dump SLAB? (or keep flogging the dead horse?)
Then indyref2 would become a SNP v Tory contest – with a completely different slant from 2014.
Then we win ! 🙂
I listened with growing disbelief to a reporter on BBC radio 4 this morning, the gist was that whilst reporting in Russia, they were accused of, now wait, you won’t believe this, of being, off all things, biased!
Seriously are they mad, those silly Russians don’t they know that the BBC is a shining light of journalistic integrity, just look at News night and their exposés of corruption within its hallowed offices.
From the beheading of a princess, to the Saville enquiry, the BBC has been without reproach in its fearless disregard to the pressures the state apparatus never puts onto its Director General, a man who has the respect of the very Heart of government, until he doesn’t, then he is disposed of!
I am not a fan of the BBC in Scotland’s news programs in general agreement with most people here. But on reflection there is a perfect template for basing a quality Scottish based news program on in the form of Eorpa!
Stick to that formula ,get more people of the same calibre and it could be a winner!
BBC are making a show, ie we will consider it!
Secretly, they must be smacking their lips with glee, propaganda x 2, a fantastic opportunity for more anti Scottish mind games.
Yes, I would enjoy the Unionist protestations, but this is the BBC the name says it all and the Union will always be their agenda.
We need to get rid of them but Westminster will NEVER give us the means to do so.
An news service channel is needed for Scotland. it needs to be slick, and professional with all things that Scots want to see and hear. World News, yes. General Scottish news including political, with local news.
It would be a challenge, and cost to set it up, but would be worth it. If indeed we get “permission” at all.
They other way would be to remove Reporting Scotland and the half hour filled with Scottish real issues. But would be much cheaper, and would be independently run.
Otherwise we are falling into their trap.
“We do not want state propaganda TV controlled by the SNP”. Indeed- yet that is absolutely not what is being proposed.
Neither do I want the current arrangement whereby we have state propaganda TV controlled by Westminster and the English establishment.
Is that so hard for the unionists to get? I buy the National for a bit of balance but I don’t really want to buy a newspaper with a political agenda at all. Is it impossible in the UK for truly independent coverage in print or on the telly to exist?
I naively used to buy the Independent but ditched it in disgust at the colonial coverage of Scotland. “Without fear or favour” – maybe this ideal will only be able to flourish once we ditch this outmoded system and hit the reset button on our democracy.
The beeb coverage of Natalie Mcgarry’s brief questioning in Syria last night could have been put together by the heil. QT last night could have come from the heil newsroom- the audience by and large has swallowed much of the pish it has been fed for decades.
This may end well or it may end badly but I am sure it will end. An hour long special with the current propagandists howling at the moon will merely keep the gradual divorce rumbling along.
As for BBC reforming- I’ve seen faster glaciers
O/T
Just watched FMQ…..
I thought bloodsport was illegal in Scotand…Kez is a shambles
I think the Scottish Six will go ahead,they all love a good side arguement to divert from what is really wanted – control over broadcasting in Scotland. We’re allowed to control road signs,but can’t actually control what is on our telly.
Government must see broadcast licences as a way of holding some kind of control over people everywhere,not just in Scotland,in the UK. If another organisation picks the new boss of another or controls who ownsit and how it is run,then that is not an independent organisation.
The Scottish 6 doesn’t need to last for exactly sixty minutes does it? Anyway,I don’t trust the British state broadcaster.
Model 1hour from Scotland – budget £5Million
Or 1/2 hour from London 1/2 from Scotland – Just the same – budget. Favoured
Another model?
it’s the bias that people can’t stand, making them annoyed and switch off.
The BBC and Sky should be broken up.
Until the Scottish Gov gets some kind of control of broadcasting (budget). Things will never change.
I am sure it is by design, rather than simply financial or whatever, that Scottish output is parochial and amateurish in comparison to the ‘main UK’ offering.
The none too subtle message is that there is the ‘main’ news, and there is you wee crappy ‘local’ offering.
They have to reinforce the too wee, poor and stupid message wherever possible.
Scotland is crap, UK is wonderful, don’t you know?
Alba should out on news sub titles more people would watch. Put 1/2 News programme on Alba. Less bias.
I disagree with this. The current set up allows BBC London to talk about THE NHS and Education, as though it’s all over the UK whereas they’re talking about England and maybe Wales. It’s also very London-centric. There’s probably people think Boris is Mayor of Scotland, but certainly there are those that think it’s one NHS.
It’s suppsoed to be an extra £4-£5 million and an extra 60 / 70 jobs. The problem will be if it’s half anchored in London and Glasgow, it needs to be totally anchored in Glasgow.
That’s 60 new jobs, and with it being anchored and controlled in Scotland, the editorial decision and finance control would have to be in Scotland. In time even Jackie Bird would either be forced to take the smell off her face whenever she mentions Scotland, or get booted.
It’s also another step towards having a BBC Scotland Trust, and a totally devolved BBC.
Indy supporters mught not watch the BBC news, but a lot of still indoctrinated people do. We might be aware, but they’re not, so the sooner it’s done, the better.
The Scottish Six will be a start, not the end.
When first proposed, the Scottish Six made perfect sense. But the world has moved on since the 1990s due largely to the Internet.
As ideas go, the Scottish Six is largely irrelevant but if done right, would reduce our exposure to NHS England, school governors, county and metropolitan borroughs etc.
But it won’t be done right, will it? We’ll get stabbings in Renfrewshire, jakey types in Bathgate, plus a focus on the hydrocarbon-dependancy of the industrial economy.
‘swivel-eyed yoons’
That’s a keeper.
The Scottish Gov should appoint the Head of the BBC in Scotland
From thirty minutes of reporting Scotland to a sixty minute Scottish Six, so that’s like shyte x 2?
I prefer SNP x 2.
This article makes a good point. Although I am in favour of a ‘Scottish six’, the idea of it being run by the BBC gives me shudders.
Let’s not forget the outrageous, blatant propaganda and outright lies, peddled by the BBC during the run up to the Scottish independence referendum. The BBC is a Westminster mouthpiece, with the head of the BBC trust appointed by David Cameron and believe it or not, the Queen, FFS! That fact alone, tells us all we need to know about the BBC, and how it sees Scotland.
Maybe summed up as, ‘Scottish six’ good idea. Run by the propagandist anti Scotland BBC, not a good idea.
A Scottish hour long program would be forced to actually cover Scottish business news at times, rather than disappearing into UK business news. So a quick look at the Herald Business section – one of the reasons I’m very reluctant to see the Herald fold, gives these:
“Online shopping growth helps drive 21 per cent profits rise for Glasgow-based packaging group”
“Record half year profits for Morrison Construction’s parent group”
“Scottish cities out in front for workforce graduates … Scotland has two of the UK’s three most attractive city regions for a highly-qualified workforce, with Edinburgh and Glasgow matched only by Bristol, according to the Office of National Statistics.
The star performers have 40 per cent or more of the workforce qualified to degree level, while the seven English and Welsh city regions are bunched around the 30 per cent level. “
and a reason we have to be careful what we wish for:
“Scottish newspapers key for decision-makers, says Scottish Newspaper Society”
Now, does anyone who actually still watches Reporting Scotland, remember many news itetms like that? It’s not all good news of course, but at least it would be Scottish News, apart from “There’s been a murdur on the football park and two footballers are in court in Paisley”.
Sportscene \ MOTD – bravo…encapsulated in that image!.
Now I can see Jonathon Sutherland arm wrestling Sarah Smith to see who gets the main gig!
Best the BBC get out of Scotland and stay out of Scotland, and a new Scottish Broadcasting company is formed with no hangers on from the BBC era, any other thing is a halfway house that will serve no purpose at all ie a double dose of Reporting Shortbread and the BBC still running the show – no thanks!
Good discussion of this issue yesterday on the John Beattie show with Stuart Cosgrove and Eamon O’Neill. at 48:20 in:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070d504
Well the SNP had a policy page and I submitted that the license fee to be abolished and BBC Scotland shut down.
Why pay for an archaic institution that cant even admit senior Managers didn’t know they had a paedophile on the books
ITV also needs shaken up so that all folks in Dumfries and Galloway get STV coverage and not rely on news from Carlisle or Belfast as only alternative to BBC Misreporting Scotland..
Obviously whoever is selected to present the new Scottish six will first need to undergo rigorous BBC re-training.
Before being allowed to present the “national” news you must learn to read your autocue whilst standing up and to smile as appropriate eg. when talking about the arrival of a new royal baby. Also, the ability to wave your arms around like a windmill when explaining complex issues is now deemed essential.
“in truth Nat types mainly like the idea of a Scottish Six purely because it drives Unionists into such a rage.”
When you put it like that I’m all for it.
Here’s another item of news from the Herald: “Underlying profits growth for STV despite hit from exceptionals”
There’s a good few have commented that STV news has become more Unionists, but only a very few since most don’t watch it, that BBC Reporting Scotland is slightly more balanced. I;ve seen Jackie Bird’s face put on a forced smile as she has to go to an item of news that isn’t “Scotland is rubbish, the SNP are pants”, Well, the more the better, and it needs both channels competing for viewers to make it fairer.
A point I think Indy supporters miss is that maybe they won’t be encourage back to BBC, but who cares? It’s the NO voters still watch it, maybe slumped down after a day at work, not really listening, but abosrbing all the London-based propoganda.
An hour news is NOT planned to be one solid hour of Scottish news, it’s a half-hour of that, and a half-hour of International and UK news suppsoedly from a Scottish perspective. Well, perhaps insteand of Boring Boris, we’ll get some news from Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Newcastle as part of UK news, not 15 minutes of Boris on his boring bike.
Could SLAB produce enough press releases to fill an hour? I doubt it, at least not without the ones later in the programme contradicting those near the start.
Fat Candy says: “Having lived in Sweden for several years, in a city of equivalent size to the one I live in now, it amazes me that the Swedes were able to get two competing local newspapers published each and every day about news happening at the local level. On top of that they had two news channels for the region as well.
In Scotland we can’t even get a thirty minute slot of NATIONAL news organised that people actually want to watch.”
From Catalonia, as well as multiple national and regional print and internet coverage, the situation is parallel – every middle-sized city has its own public TV channel, Catalan national coverage has powerful public and private channels (if you’re worried about filling 60 minutes, how does a 24h news channel grab you?), there’s literally hundreds of private and public radio stations at ever level. Heck, even Barcelona FC has its own channel. The public TV apart, all seem to pay for themselves.
There’s something deeply sinister in the media desert or stranglehold that seems to be the situation in the UK, not just Scotland. Happy to be corrected, of course.
“Angry Nationalists storm the BBC” BBC News
The BBC didn’t film it,they said, because they were already using their one outside broadcast camera.In truth,they didn’t film it because it would have exposed their lie.
I was there with my grandson,it was peaceful and good tempered.Any respect for the BBC died that day.
I no longer watch,or pay for a TV licence and life is better for that.
@ Martin Wood.12.35
That wasn’t bloodsport, it was clinical dissection. Don’t like the politics of Ruth Davidson but she got real chuckle from Nicola when she suggested Kez might not even be in second place after May.
O/T Jim Cuthbert has written an article for Bella re the fiscal framework
Some concerns raised
Couldnt care less about their new better together format,it will just be the same old tired rubbish with the same rubbish guests all shouting SNP bad.
Cant figure out why these yoons are against it but then they are not the brightest.
Stop the SNP taking over the BBC lol keep taking the medication pouters.
The pilots will be made, not shown, talked about endlessly before May, then booted well into touch afterwards.
Folks, it just ain’t going to happen.
Haven’t read all comments yet, but can understand peoples’ reluctance to accept this as being anything other than paying lip service from a bbc who have completely removed funding for bbc Alba. At the same time the bbc are happily raking in the tv tax from the people of Scotland.
They cannot pull the wool over peoples’ eyes in Scotland any longer, even my no voting friends have ditched the bbc!
It’s ironic, the yoons spouting crap about the SNP controlling the bbc.
O/T
I notice that SNP, MP M.Black was represented on Canary.com yesterday, which is good because it is predominantly an english alternative news site. This means that they will be viewing the quality of Scotlands politicians, which can only be a good thing.
As well as some Business news, a proper Scottish paper review and a relevant Question Time with a balanced panel (not three / four Unionists and one Indy as is BBC norm) would enlighten viewers
A Scottish 6 news. A day late and a dollar short as far as I’m concerned.
Don’t have a licence since about 18 months ago, and don’t miss the EBC propaganda one little bit. The very thought of one whole hour of SLAB nonsense is boak inducing.
Too many of us have now lost trust in the PQ lot and the Beeb in general. Unless, and until, there is a total clear out at PQ, I will never ever consider paying a licence again for this shabby excuse of a broadcaster.
@Bob Mack says: 26 February, 2016 at 10:32 am
No war here .I just don’t want more BBC Propoganda.”
Personally I just don’t want the BBC.
In fact I’m presently awaiting what looks like the final phase of the BBC’s attempt to extort money from me with menace. Which I believe is actually a criminal offence in Scotland. So the promised callers may be in for a surprise when they make their, “Surprise”, call at what they describe as, “An Officer has been scheduled to visit (address withheld), to find out if a TV is being watched or recorded illegally. The Officer may visit your property any day of the week, morning or evening.”
Though what this, “Officer”, is an Officer of, is rather vague. What authority he, or she, has is even more vague and how he/she expects to verify if the accused of watching or recording is taking place is also rather vague.
It also beggars the question of whether one, “officer”, is enough as whatever said officer claims would be only said office’s word against the occupier’s word.
So let’s examine what legal rights the said, “Officer”, actually has. The Officer has the same right as any other member of the public to enter the property only to proceed by the most direct marked route to the main entrance in order to make contact with the the occupier.
They cannot gaze through windows or wander around the property to investigate anything unless they have obtained a search Warrant. To do so would be an invasion of privacy.
To obtain a search Warrant they must produce firm evidence that would indicate the likelihood an illegal act is in progress. To the best of my knowledge there is no staturory requirement for anyone to inform the BBC they do not watch live TV. It is not a criminal act to own a TV receiver not to use it, for example, as a monitor for a games console, DVD player, blu-ray player or computer monitor. They can also be the monitors for CCTV.
It isn’t even a crime to have an aerial attached to the receiver as modern receivers also broadcast radio channels.
So here’s the actual deal. I’m almost 80 years old. I live alone and I’m able to claim a free licence it I wanted one.
As long as TV licence money is used to pay for the BBC they would have to pay me to get me to watch live TV from any sources. I have a hard wired home network that includes 3 TVs, 3 Computers, a DVD player, A Blu-ray PVR, Two CCTV cameras and an XBox 360.
I don’t watch live TV. So what are the BBC, “Officers”, going to do when I ask them to look at the CCTV camera and state their names, ranks and the purpose of their visit for my records?
What are they going to offer in defence of my accusations that they have been stalking me for years, harassing and threatening me with financial penalties? What of the fact they have, with their very first letter, accused me of illegal acts and demanded money with that menace? Demanding money with menace is attempted extortion under Scottish law. Laughably these numpties are attempting to threaten an over 75 year old to pay for a TV licence the OAP could have for free if he wanted one.
I’m really looking forward to this confrontation and the more idiotic time of the visit the better. My first act after asking them to tell the CCTV their business with me will be to tell them they have did the legal bit and contacted me and so must, at my request, remove themselves to the outside of my front gate and await me attending to them – if I can be bothered to even grant them that curtisy.
Pretty much agree with all of the above.
It would be a brilliant idea IF they allowed talented journalists to do the job with no interference but we all know that is not going to happen.
There are loads of talented folk out there who don’t get given a chance.
The London centric BBC want to show Scotland in a bad light, we are all useless etc.
Any decent programmes coming from Scotland get messed about.
Shetland has twice been cancelled – it is only a 6 part show – to be replaced by sport.
Bafta winning Tutti Frutti made in 1987 was not released on DVD until 2009, yet now they are advertising DVD releases on progs that have barely finished.
I remember catching a weird comedy set in a Glasgow launderette, I think,run by various unusual characters which seemed ground breaking at the time, but disappeared without trace.
The media loves bad news, to the media bad means good, when you add in BBC Scotlands giant cringe factor it just gets worse
If we were to be sure something new was going to happen I’m in %100 but as I’ve said already do we trust the BBC to do it in the correct fashion, they have no previous form for honesty do they
When you have exchanges like eg; Something Baad happened with the SNP today- over to our reporter standing somewhere unsightly- newsreader, just how Baad is the SNP then, and on it goes
I have noticed both BBC Scotland and STV sharing the same film footage of events almost at the same time as each other and if that’s the case who’s paying for what, because if the BBC are using STV coverage then they’re paying for it so what do we need the BBC for if we’re paying the licence fee to STV
God knows we’ve all heard enough about pooling and sharing
of resources or is that racehorses but if Scotland pays the BBC around 330million quid why not abolish the BBC and beef up STV local TV Stations with the money and “Shocker” have Scottish television
I’m sure STV could put on David Attenborough every now and again just the same, who knows they might even show Dr Fukcing Who (huge sigh)
I’d also like to point out loads of countries get the BBC and pay nothing because we pay for it
When I lived in Spain I watched everything the BBC had on free you just stuck up a wee dish and Abracadabra there it was so how are they going to stop us
Pointless having a Scottish Six with the same craven Britnat editors and presenters. The BBC is the enemy and everything should be done that can be done to shut the organisation down and start anew. I cannot understand why most of the 45% continue to pay the licence fee.
I have only opened my eyes and taken note of the dire state of our ‘news’ in the past two years or so. Before then to my shame I was of the opinion that news would reach us if it was important enough – bizarre, I know.
Now I can see that news is being actively manipulated and even suppressed. How thick are these people to allow the BBC to decide what is news? You only have to see how the Savile enquiry was dealt with to see how little we are allowed to know.
The running order, the emphasis on who said what is completely distorted and it is only from watching Scottish Parliament TV or HoC debates that I can see how much is filtered and how little context is given.
I am in two minds here, if it is done properly with new faces who genuinely want to give a decent news service , then great. But if it is Jackie Bird sneering her way through headlines sent up from London or Glen Cambell distorting facts then, no thanks.
How about bringing in the Channel 4 News team to run a Scottish Six ?
@ Robert Peffers.
They turn up mob handed, up to 4. Just ask them for their warrant, they won’t have one, no warrant, no access and next time you turn up please bring a policeman with you. They will bugger off and the cycle of letters and the charade will stat over. It costs them to get a Sheriff’s Warrant and they will not go that route.
I’ve had this crap at my flat for 12 years or more. Cooperating with them is a waste of time. They say they will take you off the list for 2 years but the letters start again within 3 months.
Be patient, stand your ground but don’t otherwise engage. You’ll be fine.
Andy A @ 1.51
Much as I like CH4 news it’s coverage, and knowledge of Scotland is woeful to non-existent. Ditto Wales and NI.
The Scottish Gov should appoint the Head of the BBC in Scotland
That would only give yoons the SNP political bias control attack. Bring in over seas talent. BBC is a cooky cutter outfit, everyone sounds the same, thinks the same and Pacific Quay is stuffed with SLab henchman/women.
The fact is, the BBC will never give up any control of anything they produce. BBC Scotland will never allow anyone who is not a yoon any control of what they produce.
The sheer power of the BBC is that it is entirely dictatorial and run by wildly greedy people who reward themselves giant pay cheques, knowing full well that noone can stop them and UKOK England in fact actually dearly love their UKOK auntie beeb.
And who can blame England, especially middle England? BBC r4 for example spends massive amounts of money and creative energy explaining to middle England that they really are the greatest, most clever, most nicest people ever and they are passionately loved back for it too.
BBC Scotland tells Scots they are murderous drunkards, mostly.
Go UKOK figure.
I couldn’t care for however the British State formats its anti Scottish propaganda. I will repeat what others have said – it is pointless giving the same craven lickspittles and British State ersewipes an extra half hour to vomit out their bile!
An hour long cringe as opposed to a half hour cringe, give me a break!
@G H Graham at 11:36 am
BBC Shortbread
I presume that this is the same shortbread on sale in my local co-op. It has Palm Oil in it.
The ideal thing would be for BBC Scotland to get proper editors and its own staff, under a genuine BBC Scotand Truse which monitored its political balance.
And keep Jackie Bird as a strict Anchor. I think it would be worth every penny to see the lemons on her face every time she had to read out or announce some SNP Good item, or smile at the likes of Sturgeon, or Robertson or Hosie remote in the London studio.
I can’t wait!
The UKOK mob want the monopoly of news fed to Scotland to be under London control and this yoon FAKE FEAR petition is another way for them to manipulate the gullible into believing, big yawn , ‘The one party state ‘ loony Yoony tired old accusation against the SNP wanting TOTAL control of the media and the Scottish people.
To those who have signed this FAKE FEAR petition , well their motives are fairly obvious as to what they hope to convey in this contrived petition of FEAR.
I can only conclude that they seek to promote this false fear that losing any UK control of news would somehow give an advantage to the SNP and allow them to manipulate , restrict and publicise news only from a separatist perspective , forgetting , of course , that these very advantages lie currently with them (however replacing BT for separatist) , the UKOK brigade on the BBC ( ahem ) Scotland news ( and main UK news ) .
The extended length and source of the BBC Scottish news is irrelevant as if it is still produced by the BBC then personally I cannot see any changes to the current biased coverage they give towards the SNP , and the undeserved promotion of news , and the favourable light , that is shone on the pro UK parties.
One expects a televised news programme to report current factual news , not spinning a negative perspective upon one political party , that party of course being the SNP , or omitting current factual news that could be damaging to a pro union political party , or giving a preferential majority of air time to pro union parties , or inviting pro union non entities onto political programmes to voice their pro union opinions and also omitting positive news in relation to the SNP ‘s achievements or initiatives in both Holyrood and Westminster .
I am sure that after the one sided coverage we had to endure in the lead up to the referendum and have to endure post referendum that most Scots would not be averse to having some long overdue balance in the style and content of Scottish news that we are so sadly lacking at present.
Perhaps a petition is long overdue for Scotland to get honest and independent news coverage where there is no political bias and agenda , sadly the current news on ALL channels falls very much short of achieving this and in the current political climate that is something that will never happen until we get independence.
The media , both televised and print , have had a monopoly in promoting pro union propaganda and this imbalance needs to be readdressed . As for those who sign fake fear petitions , they are truly fearful of losing the power and control that is currently in their favour , hence their derision at newspapers such as the National and the idea of any pro Scottish influenced programming. We live in an age and a union where it is toxic to be Scottish and where all things Scottish , both political and culturally , must be suppressed. Why I wonder ?
Off Topic sort of
I note Margaret Mitchell Tory MSP has had a successful irony bypass recently. The craven Brits in the Media didn’t stop to ask where she had it done.
O/T
Just had this pointed out to me: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/fighting-fund-in-support-of-danus-skene
Danus, I’m sure, would appreciated a wee boost to his fighting fund.
Just trying to get in quickly before Stu launches his annual fund-raiser 🙂
I reached my tipping point with TV and the Herald a few years back. simply not interested in returning. On the internet I can choose what to read and listen to. TV dictates the agenda as we glumly “sit on the sofa”. The newspapers, mostly nonsense.
And we would need John Swinney to negotiate a devolved broadcasting framework with a No Detriment clause.
Jackie Burd x2 Eleanor Bradford x2 Glen Campbell x 2 James Cook x 2 etc. etc. FFS
SNP X2
Given the prejudice in the coverage of our own affairs I think we need to look at it pragmatically.
Do I want to see and Scots to see that the English NHS is in crisis and to hear about its gradual privatisation, Trusts’ budget deficits, PFI schemes and Junior Doctor strikes & Corbyn saying well done to Scot Gov on contracts. Yes.
Do I want to see and Scots to see that Labour are splintered and 14% behind in the polls in England and losing control in Wales. Yes people must get that Labour are not going to govern and where the Tories & UKIP are headed.
Do I want to see and Scots to see that Labour is a shambles on Nuclear weapons, foreign wars and hopelessly split. Yes.
It seems to me that the BBC point to a Scottish 6 will be to filter out the bits of English comparison that puts even their disgraceful & distorted lying view of the Scottish NHS, public services and politics in some sort of context.
I would love to have a normal broadcasting service like any other country would have. We all know what the outcome of that would be. It is precisely why we won’t get it till the day we are finally free of their chains.
The irony in all of this as Stu points out is that some Yoons are outraged and that both sides fear the worst.
Had a long chat with a no voting health professional who complained at the Referendum about pro YES bias in the media. I was amazed at how little in the way of argument came back and how much they even agreed with. I no longer think its impossible for them to switch sides.
If the UK had been generous in its reaction and truly gone for radical change like a Federal system it wouldn’t have risked those who sided with it feeling shortchanged. England just can’t help taking liberties. The Scottish Six is bound to be another.
I see that the Greens voted with the Yoons against our government budget and called for fiscal autonomy for Yoon Councils. Please think very carefully about your second vote. A minority SNP administration would have been defeated. The Greens et al cannot be relied on. Both votes SNP this year and next will stop Labour using local government to let the Tories off the hook for cutting funding. I also wish only Scottish trade unions operated here. English unions helping the likes of Jackie Baillie is an outrage.
bobajock says:
And there’s the thing, you cant shine a turd, it would need root and branch clearing and a restart
Actually, you can shine a turd. It just has to be one that is even older than “Scottish Six”.
Just had R Shortbread on on my way to the library.
Nice Scottish lady interviewing a nice lady now living in London who has made herself a new career as a courier cyclist.
Total puff piece with absultely no relevance to Scotland. R4’s offering? The Archers! Hate that smirky horseshit with a passion!
As Lesley Riddoch points out, Iceland, with a population of 330,000, has 11 TV Channels. But Scotland, with a population of 5,000,000 might not be able to cope with a one hour news programme hosted by the UK BBC.
OT
“SNP avoids fiscal deal cuts, Westminster avoids devolving any real power”
“…. Westminster’s less than halfhearted commitment to the devolution they promised.”
http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/snp-avoids-fiscal-deal-cuts-westminster-avoids-devolving-any-real-power/
@galamcennalath
As I said earlier Jim Cuthbert has raised some concerns re the fiscal farce over at Bella Caledonia.
It’s worth a read to see what everyone thinks.
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/02/26/problems-with-the-fiscal-settlement
For anyone wondering what the new Scottish Six will look and sound like I have, at great personal expense 😀 , managed to get hold of a trial run. 😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhL57cjN8xY
O/T sort of.
Bizarrely, I see that the bbc are advertising for a trainee journalist in the SIAA, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, news bulletin today. What the bbc and Independent advocacy have in common I just do not know. Will be sending SIAA a wee email to ask them what connection they feel merits such an ad.
OT
Seems there’s a Lib Dem Conference at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh today and tomorrow.
Who’d have thunk they need rooms. Surely a phone box would have been big enough.
1st time back at the Assembly Rooms since 1993 according to their website. That would say to me the membership is back to 1993 levels with the downsizing.
Keep up the good work and don’t hurry back noo Wee Wullie Rennie as oblivion is calling.
As part of the BBC charter renewal this year for the next ten years they have apparently conducted a wide range of consultations with various bodies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/governance/charter_review/consultation
I’ve no idea what or who makes up the “BBC Audience Council for Scotland submission to the BBC Trust” but it is an interesting read.
Despite the BBC Trusts attempt to disguise the dissatisfaction of a large proponent of the Scottish electorates it fails to do so and the message is loud and clear.
Top of the list and the main agenda is now news is broadcast in Scotland, of course it is not only news but it seems that this is what is being given the highest priority possibly at the expense of other items such as just how much of the license fee raised in Scotland should be spent in Scotland.
To give you a flavour, first the lie:
1. The current Charter period has been one of significant change in Scotland. At the end of this sometimes turbulent period, the BBC remains a highly valued presence in Scottish life.
The BBC continues to perform well in Scotland compared with other parts of the UK on the key measures of audience reach and share. Consumption is high and overall approval remains strong.
BBC content for and from Scotland – on TV, radio and online –
generally matches or exceeds the highest standards of the UK production sector across almost all output.
Then the heart of the matter:
4. Throughout this period there has been a failure to address some long-standing issues around news provision and representation in network programming, raising questions about how accountable the BBC is to its licence payers in Scotland.
Other key issues have arisen concerning perceptions of BBC impartiality and, more recently, far-reaching proposals for the BBC’s content supply system which are likely to have implications for audiences in the nations.
Fifteen pages alternating between BBC propaganda and close to the truth. A Scottish Six is no more than a sop to the complaints about bias.
Full submission of the Scottish Audience Council below.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/how_we_govern/charter_review/audience_councils/acs.pdf
Nana says:
” Jim Cuthbert has raised some concerns”
Yes. Read it earlier. It just fits into the same framework as almost everything else as far as I am concerned – if Scotland doesn’t achieve independence fairly soon we are going to be f*cked, and WM will make sure of it one way or another.
I have no doubts the SNP will do their best and put Scotland first, however the powers they have are very limited.
Everyone is just playing for time. The Unionists want to use dribbling devo enhancements to keep us on a chain forever. We are biding our time have a rerun of the business which was left unsettled on the 18th Sept 2014.
I have thought about this and it seems to me that there is absolutely no point in having a Scottish 6 while the BBC in Scotland is still run from England. It would merely be a gut wrenching hour of Jackie ra Burd, Bradford, Campbell and Magnusson. It would be utterly, utterly crap unless there were to be a complete clear out of that foul stinking nest.
”What does little birdie say, in her nest at peep of day?”
”Birds in their little nests agree.”
Scotland will not stand still. Scotland has to keep on campaigning for more powers. Or have another Referendum. Instead of blaming John Swinney for Cameron’s broken promises. It will not finish John Swinney. It will finish the UK Union. Scotland has to set up a tax gathering system.
Cameron/Osbourne should have to explain the 60% (30% corp tax and 30% supplementary tax) on Scottish Oil sector, costing thousands of jobs in Scotland. Cameron claims to promote low taxes and creating jobs. Google etc pays 3% tax and breaks UK Tax Laws.
I havent seen much if any evidence of the BBC changing its ways since the referendum.
So my theory is that the real intention of the Scottish Six, while being dressed up as as some form of devolution, is to give us some special treatment i.e. stepping up the dose of medicine in the hope we will finally change our SNP voting ways.
I hope to be proved wrong.
@galamcennalath
Yes that is what I was thinking also. Buying time.
I want to see a Scottish Six happen just for the fun of watching the tory government in London increasingly interfere with Reporting-Scotland-Labour-press-office in Glasgow for control of output. It’ll be great, like rats in a sack.
Unionists needn’t worry, though, the SNP won’t get anywhere near it.
Incidentally, Radio Scotland has been running single bulletins covering Scotland, UK and the world since day one and they manage to maintain their pro-union bias, not sure why the yoons think the telly won’t be able to too.
Nothing more than Pouter Paranoia. It appears to be on the increase.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-35659278
Worth a look just to watch BBC camera man trying to make Libdem’s hall not look empty. Carmicheal looks very jolly too, down the pew.
Although no longer a licence payer and therefore no longer a consumer of material broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation, I was very interested to read the article. It was good to hear it articulated as I’d kind of assumed the Scottish Six was a bit of a “nationalist shibboleth” (if folk will excuse the Donald Dewar coinage).
During a recent visit to London I struggled to explain the level of contempt in Scotland for the BBC News & Current Affairs to English friends genuinely concerned about the Tory Government’s vicious undermining of Auntie Beeb. I understood what they were getting at in the context of a range of Tory assaults on any opposition – trade unions, short money, gerrymandering, etc. – but actually the more we talked people came to acknowledge the entire institution is an anachronism.
I think we all know the same could be said of pretty much every other bastion of the British State but, hey, one step at a time.
The images of the LibDem conference in Edinburgh over on WOS Twitter are hilarious.
They could all fit on a double-decker bus. Perhaps they should’ve done that, and got Willie to drive them to the seaside or something.
Bunch of spacewasting jokers.
It’s as well the Lib Dems are still around. Who wants to live in a one party state?
@Lesley-Anne
I was just saying to my partner this morning that I hadn’t seen you post for a few days. 🙂
I loved that clip and have seen it before… but oh so true!
While in Oban 2 weeks ago I saw a working fishing boat in the harbour with your name on it. Hope you are well.
PS:
There’s no smoke without…er mirrors Jackie Baillie infers in the Herald.
https://archive.is/whszo
Another good article. I really cannot understand the thinking behind the decision by the Editor of “The National” to pointedly ignore the content of “Wings”. In my opinion “Wings” should be given “space” in “The National” daily. The circulation would increase guaranteeing the newspaper’ future.
Regarding the BBC. They seem determined to “use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” when what is needed is cultural change within the “news, information and political entities” at BBC Scotland.
Management, presenters and /or reporters with familial or any other definitive links to any political party in Scotland or anywhere else in the UK should be given clear briefing that bias in favour of one or more political groupings to the detriment of any other is deprecated.
Contravention of the ruling should carry severe penalties including dismissal in the case of serious or repeat offences.
Nepotism should cease and the HR department should be given control of staffing recruitment. Interview panels should comprise of at least one suitably experienced independent assessor.
The practice of recruiting (on secondment) presenters from other parts of the BBC to Scotland should cease and the contracts of any such persons should be terminated.
The entire top team of managers at BBC Scotland should be
interviewed for their jobs by an assessment team comprising at least two independent assessors.
The independent Scottish Broadcasting Council should be reformed and BBC Scotland management should be required to report to it as needs be.
We reveal how the new BBC Scottish Six bulletin will look
https://archive.is/3GNqb
Speaking for myself & family, this new BBC idea is a non-starter, no matter what shiny new idea they have come up with. From Stuart Cosgrove’s article, I gleaned that all the reasons I kicked BBC into touch, are still very much a part of their ‘grand scheme’ and for that reason I won’t even try out their new venture. Their old offerings were just an affront to democracy. Programming through news, debates, political programs – a biased, WM slanted offering that gave vocal credence to the WM faithful parties and slammed or ignored parties they do not endorse.
Cosgrove said in his article, “those that pillory the BBC from the perspective of the independence movement have to accept that the grievances left behind in the wake of the referendum now need to be laid to rest.”
1. For someone wishing to claw viewer numbers & licence fees back to his beloved BBC, he goes about it in a very odd way!! His unfortunate choice of vocabulary (read: rude) does himself NO favours when he alludes to that old unionist chestnut that Independence supporters are nursing ‘grievances’. And alluding to supporters in such a manner as to give the impression that those ‘grievances’ have nothing to do with the BBC and have no foundation but are simply excuses to knock the Unionist media. I totally RESENT his calling my valid concerns and criticisms of the BBC as ‘grievances’, as though they had no basis in fact. That is just insulting! If *I* feel there is something wrong with BBC output, then those concerns are valid and at the very least are due acknowledgement and deserve investigation to ascertain if I am justified in having those concerns. Mr Cosgrove gave NO indication that our concerns were valid, or that such an investigation could/would take place to see if there WERE indeed genuine concerns that could, should or indeed would be addressed. Rather, his article just totally ignored those concerns and basically used this article to give the impression Independence supporters were holding grudges and it was time to grow up and move on. I think Mr Cosgrove forgets that ALMOST HALF THE POPULATION OF SCOTLAND HAVE INDEED ‘moved on’ (re: newspaper readership statistics) – to other news sources that give a fairer and balanced picture of the political climate in this country. If he cannot see that referring to Independence supporters in such a manner and refusing to address certain issues won’t help get his viewers back, then… that is his problem, not ours (or mine).
2. I guess this point can be included with No. 1, but for Mr Cosgrove to say that ‘grievances now need to be laid to rest’, is nonsense. Actually THEY DON’T. I’m quite happy sourcing my news elsewhere. He may need my license fee, but I don’t need his services. And to suggest it is time I forgot about political bias, democratically elected independence party slander, not to mention the worst of all – BBC child rape and abuse, is ludicrous! And thus, my License fee will remain exactly where it is – in File 13!
3. As far as License Fee is concerned, I wouldn’t pay it just to get his shiny Utopian News program he outlines. There is much more to the BBC that I don’t like, am not interested in and therefore, don’t watch any more. There is so little of interest on his BBC service that interests me and what little there is, I can find elsewhere.
4. If such a wonderful, shiny new News program is possible, why should it be developed by London? Why did the government not devolve TV media?? And thus let REAL Scots make REAL programs, based on their REAL views of the world at large? Why not let REAL Scottish people make choices and decisions based on REAL SCOTTISH wants and needs?? Why not let it be led by a team of REAL Scots who care about the image Scotland wants to project to the world?? If Cosgrove’s idea is so clever, why can it not be done by Scots?? Because he is using this wonderful, shiny new schedule of program content to blind us to the fact that it will STILL be London who chooses what is allowed and who makes the decisions on what can and should be broadcast. And why do they need that codicil in this brilliant new News format? What do they fear in letting Scots do it? THAT is the question I ask myself. And the answer is simply that London wants control of the reins so that Scots CANNOT put on any material which London considers seditious. That is the crux. And my ‘line in the sand’ – while BBC continues to use smoke and mirrors to support London’s idea of politics, I’m not interested in purchasing their service.
My reasons for not returning to BBC news has nothing to do with petty ‘grievances’. If I meet a person and determine I have nothing in common with them, I’m not keen on their ideas of what is right and wrong, nor like the way they talk about and treat others, I make the conscious choice not to view them as a ‘friend’. I will say ‘hello’ politely if I meet them – but walk on. And this is how I view the BBC. I didn’t like how they talk about and treat people they don’t agree with, I don’t agree with their idea of right and wrong, I don’t like how they won’t admit, investigate and make amends for serious wrongs they have perpetrated and I have nothing in common with them. Therefore our ‘friendship’ came to an end and now I am happy to just walk on by. And it stays as it lays.
@boris
I would like Wings to have a regular spot in the National, though I do see a lot of merit in remaining independent from any political party and form the MSM.
Wings is different? Maybe that’s a good thing, it certainly made a difference before the referendum with the Wee Blue Book.
Wings and Rev Stu are the most despised source of information and comment on the internet from the Yoons perspective.
Speaks volumes for me, must be doing something right.
@ken500
Hope this hasn’t been mentioned ..bbc Alba has 25mins of news a 7pm it is local,national and international. I realise it will be in Gaelic with Scottish subtitles…but worth a look. Help Alba stay on air too.
Still, well done Telegraph on providing us with a nice picture of Catherine Jenkins though.
call me dave says:
26 February, 2016 at 3:32 pm
@Lesley-Anne
Good example of Herald’s profeesional liars at work
Headline-
“Questions remain in probe into charity set up by MP”
Lengthy and usual Ahmed-Sheikh bad, everyone says so.
Last sentence-
“An OSCR spokeswoman said: “I can confirm the investigation is closed. Although we did not identify any matters that warranted any action at this time, recommendations to support the charity going forward were given.”
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/chicmac/BBCScottishNews.jpg
If there was a news programme done in the style of BBC Alba’s Eòrpa (Scottish news and views given the respect they deserve, from and about a country within Europe and its place therein in the rest of the world, and not what we currently get: Scotland seen as some unimportant backwater, to be treated with contempt, through the Brit-Imperialist lens) then it would be something worth watching.
The French word for what comes out of the TV is “emissions”which describes exactly what is produced by UKOK TV.Gives me a wee laugh everytime they use it and i explain how we use the word in English.
Ok I am definitely going to be swimming against the tide on this one. I have a few questions. Why have we allowed the state of bbc in scotland to happen? It’s not so terribly long ago that I actually enjoyed listening to RS when there were good quality Scots journalists around. Let’s use our ‘spook’ abiliities to do some infiltration of our own. Coming from a drama backgound I welcome the opportunity to have something made in Scotland. Re the comments about being ‘parochial’ R4 is parochial as are Daily Politics, BBC newsnight, Question Time etc etc. Let’s not become victims of the Scottish Cringe ourselves. Where are the future TV journalists in our ranks? Clearly the current management and RS faces are awful but I cannot believe that in BBC Scotland and Scottish media in general there are not many who share our view. We need to reach the Tipping Point and be prepared to raise the standard in the future. I don’t ask for an Independence bias-I want unbiased reporting and investgative journalism minus the grinding of axes.
@Robert Peffer
They sent me a web-site name to fill in a form in on-line when told them that
a) I had lived for 15 years in the USA without TV
b) Watching grass grow and paint dry were better than UK (BBC/ITV/cable) TV.
I went to the local library and filled it in.
Two years later they asked if I had changed my habits. I went to the local library and filled it in again telling them nope.
That was about 4 years ago (I think).
I do have broadband, but I don’t watch live.
In fact when Stu does items about BBC/ITV I often go on-line to get pictures of the folk he is talking about. I struggle to remember which is which. I don’t miss them.
I used to listen to Radio Scotland but gave up in the November 2013 – disgusted by their bias.
Now I monitor Radio 4 for WM propaganda – mostly early in the morning. That is pretty well it.
Old Dearie says:
“I don’t ask for an Independence bias-I want unbiased reporting and investgative journalism minus the grinding of axes.”
Absolutely agreed on that. I don’t think ANY independence supporter wants independence bias… all they want is just some good, honest balance in reporting! I know I welcome good, constructive criticism and views on SNP political policies concerning Scotland from anyone – if given in a respectful and adult manner, rather than the childish, snidey way it is so often given at the moment.
I’ve no use for lies, silly childish tantrums and madey up stories from parties or media that refuse to accept that Scots are politically aware now and that it takes little time and/or effort to show up liars, cheats and manipulators for what they are. So why not just accept that and just treat opposite views with a bit of respect and produce some balanced reporting, giving all ‘sides’ a fair review? That’s all I, as an independence supporter, ask…
Excellent piece with video clips on the denial of Gordon Brown’s role in the Vow as per the attempted hijack of Swinney interview on Fiscal Framework.
ponsonbypost.com/index.php/news/64-gordon-s-vow-the-denial-of-the-saviour
On the other hand if having a Scottish 6 helps get another 3% to vote yes. Then as Tesco says every little helps. What I mean is that London will seem more and more remote and irrelevant.
Can anybody explain why, as a Nation, we cannot set up our own national radio and TV news station without having the BBC involved at all?
I’m prepared to accept there will be a brick wall we cannot get by sooner or later, but why are we not testing these boundaries to bursting point? Is it a lack of money? Is it a lack of will? Is it a lack of coordination? Is it a lack of confidence?
We have excellent blogs, excellent live feeds, excellent podcasts, excellent presenters, excellent satirists, and presumably excellent journalists in waiting. Can’t we go just a step or two further? If TV is too big a step, what about radio? God knows if you have a couple of brain cells, the listening choice at present is thoroughly dreadful.
I know that Broadcasting isn’t a devolved power, but until we have “something” which cannot get itself broadcast, then the argument is a moot point.
Doesn’t it seem an opportune moment in our development as a Nation to start nurturing the cultural polyfilla to fill the gaps in our society which the Union suppresses?
Don’t people see the more ideas we set in motion, and the more momentum we give them, then the more the visceral the stifling hand of Unionism becomes if or when trying to stop them?
I’m not talking about Radio SNP, nor even YES Radio, absolutely not, but a technically excellent and articulate selection of “broadcast-able” material which would knock the BBC for six on content alone. Give ourselves a vital living product which deserves broadcasting for it’s content, and THEN get busy trying to getting it space on the airwaves. It might well start out as a podcast or online live feed, but I think it’s too much for individuals to do by themselves. We need a collective; a virtual directors studio coordinating what we have, husbanding whatever resources we have and scheduling what we need.
If we want rid of the BBC, let us prove we can deliver something better, and achieve that by actually doing it. Something which engages with our people and puts the tragedy of BBC broadcasting into perspective. If it must be done on a shoestring, then make a virtue of it.
If we want to have a country, then we as a people have to get clever and creative. Politics alone is too flat to pop this cork. We need to rouse ourselves as a people, breathe oxygen into our withered muscles, and work together to build such momentum that Independence becomes a mere formality.
We need a hub; the wheel we can all put our shoulder to. Our government in Holyrood must do this.
call me dave says:
26 February, 2016 at 3:46 pm
We reveal how the new BBC Scottish Six bulletin will look
https://archive.is/3GNqb
—————
FIRST HALF HOUR:
An hour-long Scottish Six with presenters in Glasgow and London is believed to be BBC Scotland’s preferred option.
Here is how the programme would have looked on February 2, according to the corporation’s detailed plans:
* 6pm: headlines.
Jackie Bird introduces three top headlines from Glasgow: David Cameron’s EU deal, the row over Scottish Labour’s tax plan and a special BBC Scotland investigation.
Reeta Chakrabarti introduces three more headlines from studio in London: the US election, murders in Leeds and sculpture.
* Main news:
Jackie Bird then presents items on the two main stories, covered by correspondents Sarah Smith, Douglas Fraser, Katia Adler and Glenn Campbell.
She also interviews Kezia Dugdale on the tax story.
* 6.20pm: UK and international round-up presented by Reeta Chakrabarti in London
Eight more stories, headed by a report on Donald Trump and live comment by Washington correspondent John Sopel. Includes UK sports story.
* 18.30. Jackie Bird re-caps the headlines from Glasgow. Brief weather report.
———–
If they prefer this ‘option 2’ format – splitting the news between the Glasgow and London studios – then I don’t see much improvement.
That keeps the perception that Scotland is second class, and all the important international news comes from London.
Imagine that format reversed and playing in England, where viewers were handed over to the Glasgow studio for all the global news !!
The main show should be presented from Scotland, with occasional segments and interviews from reporters in London and abroad.
Personally, I would pension off Jackie Bird and poach John Mackay from STV who has a bit more gravitas and seems to better portray a neutral political stance.
Breeks it getting a licence to broadcast legally that’s the barrier.
Westminster issues those,and you break the law to do so without one.
Since Magnus Gardham broke the story it must have been a Tory leaning bbc broadcaster exec that gave it to him. From London?
They don’t like Scotland.
Of course the BBC is never responsible for such acts
@Liz G.
I know Liz, but the BBC pays mere lip service to its own legal obligations on one hand, but my point is to create a volume of broadcastable material which might not be broadcast, but be of such reputable interest and quality that every hours content makes the case for broadcasting it and confounds the arguments for obstructing it’s broadcast.
If that sounds daft, try making the argument for more liberal broadcasting when you have nothing specific to broadcast beyond the political imperative of the day.
I suppose what I’m saying is a pilot broadcasting forum which can support itself and build an audience online and via podcasts perhaps, but something deliberately structured towards becoming a broadcast station on radio, but hopefully TV.
Earn the right to be broadcast by robust quality, have an established and loyal audience, and then let Westminster tell us why it should not be broadcast.
@frogesque says: 26 February, 2016 at 1:56 pm :
“They turn up mob handed, up to 4.”
I suspected as much Frogesque.
“Just ask them for their warrant, they won’t have one,”
Ah! But that comes much later. After I inform them that according to the law of Scotland they have reached the limit of their remit if they have no warrant.
They are only legally allowed to come to the main door by the paths, no short cuts across the grass, for the purpose of contacting the occupant. After they do that I will ask them to wait my presence outside my garden gate – when it suits me.
After wrong footing them thus I go onto the attack.
What are they accusing me of doing that is against the law and what evidence do they have to suspect I am breaking the law?
Then I accuse them of harassing a disabled OAP and they have just given me more evidence to support my accusations and it is on CCTV.
There is a large folder of communications and every one of the letters demands I pay for a TV licence even although there is no evidence I ever watched live TV.
Then there are the threats of legal action and the threats of £1,000 fines. That’s attempted extortion and described under Scots law as Demanding money with menace. There are precedents of threats of legal action being accepted by the courts as demanding money with menace, (provided there is no evidence of actual illegal action by the victim).
I’ve dealt with their kind before and if I cannot put the fear of death into them then I know a very good,semi-retired, lawyer who can and who would probably take on the case for free just for the hell of it.
Telegraph new item, now at 6,000.
http://archive.is/ZEEUR
I rather like, (…warns that the petitioners “do not want state propaganda TV controlled by the SNP”.)
Well at least they admit that it is ‘state propaganda TV’
“but RS is a parochial and institutionally-biased embarrassment of a programme, existing primarily as the broadcast arm of Scottish Labour’s press office.)”
Saying it as it should be said.
If only other ‘independence supporting’ media could put it in such terms.
Apologies – I’m late to this particular party. Had to earn a crust to keep the wolves from the door.
Hi Hoss Mackntosh (from this morning).
You typed,
“If SLAB come third in May will BBC Scotland swing behind the Tories and dump SLAB? (or keep flogging the dead horse?)”
I don’t think the incestuous relationship between BBC Scotland and the Labour party in Scotland could allow BBC Scotland to “swing behind the Tories”.
I remeber reading a thing online about the BBC/Labour relationship months ago – either Ponsonby or Calton Jock.
Hud on…
No, I was wrong. It was “Lenathehyena’s blog”, from August 2014. You can refresh your memory here:-
https://lenathehyena.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/oh-what-a-tangled-web-we-weave-when-first-we-practice-to-deceive-bbc-scotland-and-the-labour-party/
@Big Jock, Not if the BBC’s preferred format goes through.
https://archive.is/3GNqb
According to the Herald there are 3 options.
1. Produced and presented in Scotland.
2. Switching between Scottish studios for local news, and London studios and London presenters for UK and international news.
3. An enhanced Reporting Scotland.
Option 2 is the BBC’s preferred format.
How ridiculous does that look?
As if BBC staff in Scotland don’t have what it takes to present international news !!
It would make them feel like total losers, and give the impression to the whole of Scotland that we are a second class nation that can’t be trusted with a single news programme.
“And now back to London for the big news”
What an absolute joke.
Test.
Just a test. How has my avatar changed? Not done that before…
Breeks, it happens usually because we’ve mispelt our email address, a new avatar comes with every address…ergo our avatars vary because of this. It just takes one altered character for this to happen. Askimet remembers every error so even if you don’t realise you have made the error at the time, askimet associates the mispelt address with that avatar.
Sometimes in the past people thought this changed avatar was a sign of people logging in under different guises, while that could be the case, for the most part it really is just human error combined with technology that can’t distinguish between an error and a ‘new’ email addy. 🙂
News watch has a “rant” by a Richard Andrews “This is parochial, and panders to the sepratists. We already have Scottish news at 6.30. I would like you to retain the UK News at Six” well he is entitled to his opinion along with his hundreds of fellow objectors perhaps he should give Wings a read
Ken McIntosh was hilariously spouting the Pacific Quay mantras last night on Scotland 2016 and came across as none too bright – especially when up against the intelligent input from Lesley Riddoch. The necessary £3.5 million is peanuts really. Didn’t I read somewhere that the BBC raises about £300 odd million in Scotland but only spends about 1/4 of that making output in Scotland ? Surely investing £3.5 million is chickenfeed then.