T V watchdog to investigate Salmond show over complaint
BROADCASTING watchdog ofcom is examining a complaint against Alex Salmond’s new show on a Kremlin-backed TV station.
The regulator confirmed yesterday it is ‘assessing’ a complaint against The Alex Salmond Show.
It said the complaint centres around the ‘social media element’ of the half-hour programme in which the former First Minister read out a series of tweets.
Mr Salmond’s programme aired for the first time on Thursday amid controversy over his decision to work with RT, formerly Russia Today, which is funded by the Kremlin.
Yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon was urged to reassure Scotland’s European partners that Mr Salmond’s links with Russia do not reflect Scottish Government policy.
Scottish Liberal democrat leader Willie Rennie wrote to the First Minister warning her that the former SNP leader’s decision to broadcast his show on RT risked ‘reputational damage’ to Scotland.
The half-hour debut show was watched by 13,200 people throughout the UK – 12,500 of them north of the Border – when it was broadmade cast at 7.30am. It was repeated at 6.30pm and again at 11.30pm.
Ratings figures show that viewer numbers tumbled throughout the day, dropping to 3,700 by the late-night showing. ofcom said it was assessing a complaint about the chat show before deciding whether or not to begin an investigation.
It centres around a segment in which Mr Salmond read out and answered tweets which he said were from members of the public.
A spokesman for ofcom said: ‘We will assess this complaint against the broadcasting code before deciding whether or not to investigate.’
Ratings figures show that the programme’s morning broadcast took a 0.27 per cent share of all UK viewers watching television at the time.
The complaint to ofcom was disclosed as Mr Rennie sent his letter to Miss Sturgeon urging her to ‘reassure our European partners’ that Mr Salmond’s decision to work with RT does not reflect official policy.
He wrote: ‘countries, particularly along the Russian border, will be deeply concerned that your predecessor as the First Minister of Scotland is now employed by this Russian television channel.
‘Its very objective is to undermine Western democracies and operate information interference. While I recognise he is no longer a member of the Scottish Government, our international partners will recognise his very close association with your administration.’
Mr Rennie added: ‘He led the Scottish Government for seven years during a time when Scotland’s international profile was high.’
The politician said that Scotland ‘cannot afford for any country to misconstrue Mr Salmond’s actions as any sort of reflection of the Scottish Government’s policies’.
Mr Rennie added: ‘I believe it is therefore incumbent upon your government to immediately engage in diplomatic efforts to reassure our European partners about Mr Salmond’s role, or lack thereof.
‘We cannot afford for this Government’s embarrassment of its former leader’s actions to compromise its current international standing.’
A spokesman for Miss Sturgeon said she had already stated her position on Mr Salmond’s choice of broadcaster, but said he was ‘free to do as he wishes’.
He added: ‘The First Minister was not consulted on this decision and would have advised against it – Alex Salmond is not an elected politician and is free to do as he wishes.
‘The First Minister also made clear that neither she nor the SNP will shy away from criticising Russian policy where we believe it is merited.’
‘Undermine democracies’