BBC forced to rewrite story on our uni scandal exclusive
The BBC have been forced into an embarrassing fake news climbdown after attempting to rubbish a Sunday Mail exclusive story.
We revealed last week the anguish of straight A school leavers who had been rejected from Scotland’s top universities, while English and foreign students who pay sky-high fees could still gain places.
The Scottish Government’s free education policy means there is a quota system for domestic applicants, while institutions can accept as many students as they want from fee-paying countries.
But after our story went to press, the BBC ran a bizarre piece under the heading “Debunking the Myth”.
It referred only to “newspaper revelations” but went on to state: “A simple urban myth needs debunked.
“No Scottish student is ever denied a university place simply in order to give a place to a fee- paying student from overseas. End of. To suggest otherwise is at best disingenuous – at worst a simple lie.”
Unfortunately for the Beeb, it wasn’t quite “End of ”.
We challenged the state broadcaster to back up their assertion and explain precisely where the Sunday Mail had got it wrong.
They failed to respond to our inquiry but within hours their online piece had been heavily edited.
Suddenly, it was not the BBC but rather “universities” who “believe” an urban myth needed debunked.
All reference to “disingenuous” and “lies” had been deleted.
The hastily edited piece appeared to