BBC scraps won’t satisfy an ambitious people who realise their own worth

IT IS not too often on social media that hardline unionists and nationalists find themselves on a similar page, but last week’s surprise news about the creation of a standalone BBC Scotland TV channel was one of those times. For those on the most hardcore fringes, this is either evidence of the BBC capitulating to the SNP’s political agenda or proof of a secret unionist plot to launch an anti-independence propaganda machine ahead of any possible indyref 2. Both sides, it seems, are readying excuses for defeat before the starting gun has even been fired. Among everyone else, though, the news was broadly welcomed along with a healthy d ollop of caution. A new Scottish TVchannel capable of nurturing talent and truly reflecting the country’s diversity is a massive step in the right direction. We began the week with leaks indicating that hopes of a Scottish Six, an hourly news programme from Scotland to replace the current main UK bulletin, had been shelved by the BBC. Just as we were getting ready to throw in the towel on the idea of a better service in Scotland, it turned out director-general Tony Hall had an ace up his sleeve: Scotland will get its own TV channel in 2018. Funded to the tune of £30 million – the equivalent of BBC Four – it will create 80 new jobs in Scotland. While there won’t be a Scottish Six on BBC One – yet – there will be an hour-long 9pm bulletin. The investment in journalism and other areas of broadcast is much needed. Scotland’s news landscape has not adequately evolved alongside devolution. Rather, it has declined during the most exciting period in modern Scottish political history, and it is this point in particular that has been the most controversial for the BBC. So it is important to acknowledge that this investment from the BBC is akin to an admission of liability: the broadcaster has been long criticised for its failure to develop services in Scotland, and it came to the boil in the two years preceding the independence referendum when the voting public were insulted time and again by a news structure broadly controlled by London with no sense of what was happening here.

Many had never really questioned the structures of our media before. It hadn’t occurred to them that a news agenda dominated by London was harming Scotland’s interests. They hadn’t been aware of how little investment there actually was in Scotland’s potential.

That political and cultural realisation gave rise to a deep anger, which culminated in protests outside BBC Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow. Some of the rhetoric was confused and chaotic: the narrative of a deliberate BBC bias went too far, and claims that the BBC alone cost Scotland a Yes vote became a scapegoat for some activists.

That confused, boiling anger enabled opposition voices to try to label Scotland’s independence movement as paranoid and controlling, rather than address legitimate concerns about the root problems in the media.

Such a substantial investment into BBC Scotland serves as vindication for the critics who were so unfairly smeared amid political campaigning. The BBC was failing to meet Scotland’s needs, and even with this investment Scotland still lags behind levels in Wales and Northern Ireland.

The story doesn’t end here. Scotland has changed, and scraps from the table will not satisfy the appetite of an ambitious people who have suddenly realised their worth. This concession should provide fresh motivation for campaigners who want a better media.

Sure, this is a good start, but it must be well funded and well resourced, and decisions about commissioning and programming must be made in Scotland, not London. Anything less is no longer acceptable. Already, Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop has pointed out that the Scottish Broadcasting Commission in 2009 estimated a Scottish TV channel would require more than double the amount of funding the BBC has allocated to its new offering.

But still, we are heading towards a Scotland with an existing broadcaster, STV, and a beefed-up BBC Scotland offering, which will be competing with each other. There is huge potential in an exciting, vibrant broadcast landscape and a Scotland ready and willing to get creative with it.

But most of that groundwork won’t be seen anywhere near social media channels, where, sadly, debate on broadcast will likely continue to be stunted along constitutional lines, and hurled back and forth between the extreme fringes as evidence of the other’s deviousness. Let’s just leave them to it.