General
By G.A.Ponsonby
BBC Scotland has been criticised over its referendum coverage amid claims that the corporation’s poor quality programmes could result in a “serious democratic deficit”.
Speaking on the day he appeared before Holyrood’s Education and Culture Committee, NUJ Executive Committee member Peter Murray said BBC Scotland needed to do more than just broadcast occasional one off debates.
Mr Murray, himself a former BBC reporter, called on the broadcaster to invest in staff at this crucial period and added: “There is just no evidence BBC Scotland is trying to gain extra funding to cover the referendum debate in a serious way. It’s no good just one-off debates, there needs to be serious programming, such as history and investigations, because, otherwise, there will be a serious democratic deficit.
“Twelve years ago, BBC Scotland secured additional funding of the order of 50 per cent to cover the devolution debate and the creation of the Scottish Parliament, and now we have budget cuts ahead of the referendum debate. It has to stop.”
Mr Murray’s criticism of the corporation’s referendum coverage preceded his appearance in front of the Holyrood Committee where he revealed that morale amongst BBC Scotland staff was at an all time low.
The NUJ spokesman accused BBC bosses in Glasgow of presiding over a culture of fear, with staff afraid to speak out.
Speaking in front of the committee, Mr Murray added: “Staff morale is pretty well at rock bottom. People say it’s no longer a pleasant place to work. People are fearful of their jobs, naturally.
“The BBC is supposed to be model employer, not a terrible employer. But at the moment people are saying that the BBC has become a terrible employer.
“Staff are being expected to do much much more. I was told about one reporter who had to work 27 days on the trot without a break, and then was asked to come in and cover someone else.
“That pattern of excessive workload seems to be becoming part of the norm, that senior managers expect this.”
Echoing his NUJ contemporary, Paul McManus, from the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu), also accused the BBC of cutting back at a historic time for Scotland with both the Commonwealth Games and the independence referendum being held in 2014.
Mr McManus said: “You cannot lose 17 staff from news and current affairs and deliver the same level of programming.”
The Committee members also learned that BBC Scotland will not begin discussing the issue of their funding of the referendum coverage with the BBC in London until late 2013.
The revelation disappointed SNP MSP and committee member Joan McAlpine who said:
“The referendum in 2014 will be one of the biggest news story in Scotland of modern times – the idea that our national broadcaster can put off planning for this until next year is surprising to say the least.
“The BBC are routinely involved in planning for major events years in advance – and the referendum should be no different.”
Writing in her Daily Record column, Ms McAlpine revealed in a letter to the committee, the National Union of Journalists claimed that BBC management had downplayed the costs of referendum coverage, claiming it was a “one off”. The NUJ also claimed management had dismissed Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in 2014 as being nowhere near as important as the London Olympics.
She added: “The people of Scotland pay for this service, and we have a right to expect that the BBC will provide first class, impartial and informative reporting of this debate.
“The BBC are currently front-loading job cuts in news and current affairs in Scotland – in light of what is happening in Scotland over the next few years, surely this is the wrong approach for our national broadcaster at this time.”
Both the BBC director general George Entwistle and BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie had been invited to appear in front of the Committee but declined to attend.
The criticism of referendum planning and the poor quality coverage follows the scandal over the BBC’s role in the Jimmy Savile sex scandal.
A survey published yesterday suggests that trust in the BBC has fallen to just 45% with almost two thirds believing that the child sex scandal has caused lasting damage to the BBC’s reputation.
Step up and tell us the truth folks, the people deserve to know!
Sounds like a plan to me.
Would they have dared not to appear before a Westminster committee? I think not. MacQuarrie is director of a service paid for by Scottish taxpayers. They are treating the Scottish parliament with total contempt.
This’ll be a survey taken south of Hadrian’s Wall presumably because I feel the BBC’s reputation has fallen further north of the border!
“Would they have dared not to appear before a Westminster committee? I think not. MacQuarrie is director of a service paid for by Scottish taxpayers. They are treating the Scottish parliament with total contempt.”
If the DG’s performance before the Westminster committee is owt to go by then we’re not missing anything – Ken MacQuarrie should be removed from his post, unless he has a previous engagement – like his own funeral!
What Scots need out of this is a few whistle blowers who are fed up with the bias coverage of the BBC.
They need to tell us just how the BBC is running it’s campaign against the will of the Scottish people.Step up and tell us the truth folks, the people deserve to know!
Having worked in a public sector organisation, and gone through a restructuring process, I can vouch for the climate of fear and uncertainty. It is extremely difficult to raise issues of concern without being seen as disloyal, and management will always close ranks, even when privately they agree with you.
I hope that someone will open up a channel of communication for independently minded journalists at the BBC, as it is inconceivable that all are unionists. At the end of the day, people have mortgages to pay and families to feed, so anonymity is crucial. Maybe the NUJ should survey their members?
All they are concerned about is the loss of jobs. If all the jobs were retained they’d live perfectly happily with the biased reporting.
I listened to Radio Scotland while driving around today. They led the morning bulletins with a Labour press release (demand for AS to repay £12,000) and then led the afternoon/evening bulletins with another Labour press release (demand for a judicial inquiry into AS conduct).
Meanwhile STV and local radio news had these stories well down the pecking order – there is only one conclusion that can be drawn and I don’t need to spell it out.
Let’s think back to 2007 – the new SNP Govt was dictating the news agenda with a new announcement almost every day. We need to get back to a situation where the SNP is leading the news, not following it.
Totally agree Harry
publications.parliament.uk/…/…
MUST MUST read , going round twitter at the moment
A few days before that Churchillian politician Paul Martin (not to be confused with the former Albion Rovers manager) called the FM a liar.
Superb
As far as Schenghen is concerned, I’d love us to become a part of the zone immediately, but recognize that it would create an unavoidable border control with England.
I also believe this will be just one of many submissions on the issue by academics as part of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation of the Independence Question.
Here’s some more light reading of committee evidence:
Ireland is in Schengen with no border control.
Is Ireland? I can only find information that Ireland isn’t part of Schengen.
Was pleasently surprised last year how easy it is to get from NI into the RoI and back.
So, no surprises then that AS knew what he was talking about all this time …the linked doc was published on 24th Sep 12.
Unlikely that Warminster and the opposition parties did not know of its existence either so who is playing who for a fool?
Just a small point: Warminster, is an actual town in Wiltshire not to be confused with another minster with war moungers.
The Brit nats clearly admit in this official UK parliamentary release that EU membership is guaranteed and will be put into a suitable working EU framework during the process of Scottish independence negotiations.
publications.parliament.uk/…/…
MUST MUST read , going round twitter at the moment
Dynamite!
Hopefully a copy of this link is going to every unionist MP forthwith.
Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country AGAIN?
Has lots of connotations, but it would remind people of the history, and perhaps subliminally make people think of the national anthem and that we are simply reclaiming what we had before.
The Unionists would hate it of course, but there is nothing untoward in the wording.
I think this is a brilliant idea. Unionists will go ape! Do we care? Aye right!
It is all a question of Trust..and the Scottish Populace have got to be informed of what is going on, and what is being kept back..by whom!
Very well put, rodmac. Until I read H.C 643 I hadn,t realised the scale of the treachery perpetuated by the M.S.M, although I should have suspected it given their track record. Quite agree that they, Con/Lab/LibDem are all in it together, and determined to use any means, usually foul, to keep us in the union. Keep up the good work.
publications.parliament.uk/…/…
Note that the links of paper 12 and 13 are the wrong way around!
Maybe 4 even-handed papers, but most are looking at the position of the rUK, and taking Scotland for granted as the weaker state. This is a mistake; to determine the likelihood of a position you have to look at both sides, just as to enter negotiations you have to understand what the other side may want.
Regardless, the opinions differ radically from each other in many cases.
14 papers. At first I thought a couple of them were just plain stupid and uninformed, but I came to realise that theirs was a valid point of view.
And that led me to another conclusion, that there are at least say 6 papers missing from the set, to show other perfectly valid points of view and scenarios. I’ve seen a couple around, they should be included in the set.
And then – and this will definitely be controversial in this forum – I’d like to see Ian Davidson have some sessions to pin down and reconcile the essential points. Whatever his political flavouring, he’s dogged at trying to get people to commit themselves, and very good at seeing what’s missing or contradictory. (fx: steps back out of missile range!)