BBC Scotland criticised by watchdog over news output
BBC Scotland has been attacked by the Corporation’s watchdog over its news and current affairs coverage. A BBC Trust report found ‘audience approval of current affairs has fallen, and some viewers think their expectations are not being fully met’.
The review said audiences in Scotland have a lower opinion of the BBC news output than in other parts of the UK.
The trust said feedback showed BBC Scotland’s television news performs strongly in some areas, such as quality of programming.
But it also heard ‘very critical opinion from some members of the audience’. The report comes as the BBC considers the launch of a Scottish Six news bulletin to counter concerns that news programmes are insufficiently tailored to the needs of viewers in Scotland.
Critics believe the move would leave the BBC vulnerable to increased political interference.
According to the trust, BBC surveys show perceptions of BBC Scotland’s news are ‘high but have fallen in recent years and are below those for other UK nations’.
In 2015, the ‘average appreciation score’, a method of measuring viewers’ opinions, for regional news in Scotland was 78.1, down from 80.4 in 2011. The report noted that ‘perceptions of the BBC’s news were affected by the Scottish independence referendum in 2014’.
The trust said viewers’ ‘general impression’ of news coverage had ‘dropped significantly’ between 2013, when it was in line with the UK average, and September 2014.
The ‘mean approval score’ gauging people’s ‘general impression’ was 7.2 in Scotland, compared with 7.8 for UK news. The trust said: ‘It has subsequently risen and has throughout the period been at a fairly positive level, but it has not recovered to its previous level and remains below the UK average.’
It added: ‘There is passionate debate within Scotland over whether the BBC’s services provide fair and balanced coverage of news and current affairs. Much reference is made to the 2014 independence referendum by the respondents, when some felt the BBC’s coverage was more favourable to Unionist causes, while others felt that Nationalist representatives were not given the level of scrutiny they deserved.’
One viewer said: ‘Devolution changed things – the BBC remained, as always, out of step with the country and [it is] certainly not representative of Scotland, very much putting forward [the] establishment London view.’
The review also found services tend to reach older audiences and have to modernise to appeal to younger users.
Gaelic language services were found to be highly valued by native speakers.
Bill Matthews, BBC trustee for Scotland, said: ‘It is clear from this review that Scottish audiences value the BBC but the BBC has to rise to the challenge of representing Scottish life as it is today.’
A BBC Scotland spokesman said: ‘We outlined some months ago that the BBC is actively considering how it should best serve audiences in Scotland in news and whether we need to make any changes to our existing output.
‘That work is ongoing and we expect to announce the findings later this year.’
‘Out of step with the country’