BBC ‘too anglified’ during referendum
Report accuses corporation of failing to engage with communities
A REPORT has described the BBC’s independence referendum coverage as too “anglified”, with too much focus on official campaigns rather than communities.
Audience Council Scotland said the BBC needs to review its approach to controversial political issues – but 48 per cent of people in Scotland think BBC news and current affairs content represents their lives well.
BBC coverage of last year’s independence referendum was too interested in an “anglified perspective” – and the corporation should review how it operates in Scotland, according to a report.
The bulletins also became too focused on official campaigns and failed to engage with communities, the corporation’s independent Audience Council Scotland said in its annual report.
The body, which advises the BBC Trust, said BBC Scotland should be given greater authority and resources to commission programmes for Scottish audiences and review its approach to the coverage of controversial political issues “to ensure that perceptions of impartiality remain strong across all audiences”.
Viewers also expressed concern that BBC network correspondents were brought in to front bulletins in place of Scotland reporters as the referendum campaign neared its conclusion.
Analysis found 48 per cent of people in Scotland think the BBC is good at representing their life in news and current affairs content, compared with 61 per cent in England, 61 per cent in Northern Ireland and 55 per cent in Wales.
During last year’s campaign, nationalists protested outside BBC Scotland’s headquarters over its coverage.
It was alleged the BBC had failed to cover a Yes rally in Glasgow – and former political editor Nick Robinson was at the centre of a row after he wrongly claimed Alex Salmond had ignored his question during a heated press conference.
The BBC annual review read: “Over half feel that the BBC represents their nation or region in its content, and supports minority languages. Nonetheless there is still some way to go, particularly in Scotland. Some council members believed BBC coverage had focused too much on the official campaigns, at the expense of the wider civic and community engagement, and that certain network programmes had appeared to adopt what was described as an anglified perspective.”
Meanwhile, the report said the referendum and the Commonwealth Games saw the BBC having its “busiest-ever year in Scotland”. The opening ceremony attracted a maximum of 1.8 million Scottish viewers, with 9.3 million tuning in across the UK, the BBC Trust’s annual report said.
The largest televised political debate in the UK was broadcast on BBC One from SSE Hydro in Glasgow on September 11. The Alex Salmond/Alistair Darling debate in August attracted one third of the television audience in Scotland.
Mrs Brown’s Boys was the UK’s most watched Christmas Day programme, with 9.7 million viewers.
Bill Matthews, the BBC trustee for Scotland, said the audience council “feels that more should be done in BBC output to reflect the cultural and political landscape of Scotland to audiences both in Scotland and across the UK”.
In its submission to this year’s review by the trust, the council said that in order to achieve significant progress it may be necessary to devolve network budgets and commissioning powers so that network production in Scotland becomes sustainable in the long term.
The BBC Trust is to undertake an impartiality review on its news coverage and use of statistics in its news and current affairs programming.
Meanwhile, celebrities including JK Rowling, Daniel Craig, David Attenborough, Dame Judy Dench, Lenny Henry and Gary Lineker have put their names to a letter expressing fears over t he Government’s plans to return the BBC to its roots as a public service broadcaster.
They argue this will damage the UK’s global standing and threaten to turn it into a “narrow-focused, market-failure broadcaster”.
‘‘ It is important that the BBC reassess its offering for audiences in Scotland and the way in which it is accountable to licence payers here