STV to opt in for increasing opt outs?

The importance of local news to the Scottish TV viewer was stressed in an article in this week’s Sunday Herald (27th September). Earlier attempts by the BBC to launch a local web news network had been rejected by the BBC Trust – due to complaints by the Press that this encroached on their area. Sceptics of the complaints by the Press have till now looked in vain for their offerings – although it certainly scuppered any chances of a decent service from the BBC. More recently in the Government’s Digital Britain report it was suggested that there should be 3 independently funded news consortia set up – one in each of the nations. Latest developments seem to suggest that a serious possibility has arisen for a joint proposal from STV DC Thompson, the Johson Press and the Herald and Times Group to bid for one of the pilot news consortia. Importantly this seems to include an increased element of local reporting through opt outs. Sceptics had suggested that for troubled STV their recent proposal for a new ‘Scottish Six’ was partly about saving money by pulling staff out of Aberdeen and focussing on a Glasgow led production – albeit with the increased opt outs promised. Scottish Television have not yet officially confirmed that it will be part of any bidding for one of the pilots, but given the channel’s troubles it looks increasingly likely. In the longer term whether it is the way to ensure a stable and plural news environment in Scotland is less certain.

BBC Alba As deidh bliadhna (BBC Alba one year on)

“Tha e doirbh a chreidsinn gu bheil BBC ALBA air a bhith air an eadhar airson bliadhna a-nis agus bu math le MG Alba, as leth na buidhne, taing a thoirt airson an taic a tha a h-uile duinne air a’ thoirt dhan sianal agus MG Alba mar bhuidhean”.

BBC ALBA has been on air for a year now – something that is hard to believe. The channel has enjoyed success with Scottish audiences, with the media and with Gaelic speakers despite only being available on satellite television and on the iPlayer, and we are hugely indebted to you for the part you have played in that
and for the support you have given.

These are the words from a recent press release from MG Alba – the main funder of the Gaelic Channel, who run it in partnership with the BBC Alba. Good news for the Channel this week was that the channel will now be shown live on the iPlayer. However one year in, there is still a huge hill for the channel to climb.
A recent article in the West Highland Free Press however raised a whole set of issues that the channel needs to overcome – many not of its own making -  its budgetary constraints of £14m per year, compared to the £90m of the Welsh Channel S4C, plus the continual frustration of not being available on the BBC’s Freeview platform – it being necessary to have SKY or Freesat to watch it. Currently only a third of viewers in Scotland have access to it, but 200,000 viewers watch it per week – well in advance of the 59 thousand fluent Gaelic speakers registered in the last Census. Surely a case of democratic deficit here, when Gaelic speakers pay the same taxes as non-Gaels and pay their BBC licence as well.

Blogging in favour of Asylum Seekers

Some disgraceful coverage last week in the British press of the forceful clearing of the so called “Jungle” camp of asylum seekers near Calais. The epithet ‘Jungle’ seemed to be used with some glee by various commentators in the press, the clear implication for me being that those in this temporary camp were somehow akin to animals – certainly different from you and I. Even the BBC to its disgrace used the epithet when reporting on the clearing – never to my knowledge – drawing attention to the racist undertones of the term.  Marie Barbier, a journalist from ‘l’Humanite’ the daily paper of the French Communist Party has been regularly blogging about the plight of the ‘sans-papiers’ (those without papers – ie authorisation to stay). Her blog – ‘laissezpasser.info‘ (in French) is a good example of trying to give a voice to those who do not get into the traditional media.

BBC Trust to review BBC TV services

The BBC Trust – the body set up to monitor the BBC on behalf of licence payers has announced a review of BBC One BBC Two, BBC Four and the Red Button. This is part of the Trust’s regular series of reviews and will be the largest and most significant service review held yet. Essentially the Trust is asking the public to tell them the extent to which these services meet audience expectations. A 12 week public consultation has now been launched which will end on December 18th.  The review will look at all content on the channels including news and nations and regions output, although the question of television production quotas including programme and network supply and the costs of on screen talent are out of scope as they have been reviewed separately in recent years. The on-air portrayal of the different communities within the UK is also outside the scope of this particular review as during the course of 2009/10 the Trust will be working with the four Audience Councils to examine questions of portrayal.

Despite these limitations the review comes at a time when the Scottish Government are arguing for a different type of Broadcasting Corporation in this country, and critical friends such as the Audience Council Scotland have argued for better Scottish coverage and portrayal. Meanwhile embittered critics such as James Murdoch, scion of the Murdoch media empire are hoping to set the agenda for a ‘nuclear option’ the total abolition of Britain’s Public Service Broadcaster claiming that “The only reliable, durable, and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit.” In an unprecedented rebuttal of the News Corporation spokesman, Mark Thompson the Director General of the BBC referred specifically to Murdoch’s recent MacTaggart lecture claiming he was out of touch with audience sentiment. Thompson quoted a recent Guardian ICM poll which found that  four out of five people said the UK should be proud of the BBC – “a much higher figure than when ICM asked the same question five years ago”. He also confirmed that the BBC would fight proposals to share the licence fee with rival broadcasters – a proposal which seems to have gained favour within the Labour Party of recent months although is bitterly opposed by representatives of the Scottish audience such as the Audience Council. Members of the Public and those who may be particularly effected by possible changes to the services in question (such as postgraduate journalists – Ed.) can download and contribute to the review here.

Scots Nats argue for Scottish Broadcasting Corporation

Claims that Scots were “still being short-changed” within the current British broadcasting system were made yesterday in the Scottish Parliament by SNP culture minister Michael Russell.Claiming that the UK government, had totally ignored the call of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission for a new independent Scottish channel, Mr Russell pointed out that this has been totally ignored in the much publicised Digital Britain report released last month.The minister was making a statement to MSPs on progress in broadcasting in the last 12 months since the publication of the SBC report.

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