The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Scots news can lead world: BBC
Broadcaster sets out proposal to properly resource new Scottish channel news programme before MSPs
A flagship news programme being created as part of a new television channel for Scotland will be able to draw on the global resources of the BBC, the director general of the corporation pledged.
Tony Hall said plans for a new hourlong bulletin for Scotland encompassing Scottish, UK and international news “could teach a few lessons to news broadcasters around the world”.
The bulletin will be part of the schedule of a new BBC Scotland channel, which will have an annual budget of £30 million and is due to go on air next autumn. BBC chiefs unveiled the plans, which will also see 80 new journalists hired, to staff at their Pacific Quay Scottish headquarters in Glasgow.
The announcement comes after pressure on the BBC to establish a “Scottish Six” news bulletin – an hour-long programme which would replace both the current UK-wide news programme at 6pm and the Scottish bulletin, which goes on air immediately afterwards.
Lord Hall told MSPs that putting the new flagship news bulletin out at 9pm, when there are no other news programmes broadcast, would allow producers in Scotland to draw on the global resources of the BBC.
The director general made the pledge when he appeared before MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee, alongside BBC Scotland director Donalda MacKinnon and director of nations and regions Ken MacQuarrie.
Lord Hall said: “I think the BBC is a team and I very much want Donalda to draw on the resources of the whole BBC, behind BBC Scotland the channel and all the things we do.
“Talking to the teams yesterday, I think they can do something which is really new and fresh, using all the resources of BBC, which I think could teach a few lessons to news broadcasters around the world. I’m really excited by that proposition.