‘The BBC doesn’t understand what’s wrong ... that’s why it cannot fix it’

ON trust, the BBC doesn’t understand what’s wrong. That’s why it cannot fix it. It needs an outside, independent voice to go through its output and point out what is good and what isn’t. The problem with that is it would expose the impact of budget cuts in previous years and the BBC can’t afford to rectify that.

It also still refuses to engage directly and daily with critics to explain and justify itself.

Until someone believable does that as the public face of BBC news, and can correct claims of deliberate bias in programmes, the critics will make hay.

On the new channel, we must strive for optimism, but industry practitioners already complain that projected budgets are perilously low and the inescapable truth about telly is that money shows. Worse, lack of it shows more.

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The 9pm slot is a difficult one for news nowadays, up against the most popular shows and between established products such C4 News and the BBC at 10. A possible answer is a single compelling unmissable nightly news-based talk show programme around which the hour can be built. That means breaking a BBC mould and putting on air a challenging presenter(s) who will not spare the guests.

Far too much output is cosy and deferential. Thorough research and unblushing questioning from someone so far unknown – instead of recycling the same old crew – could bring in a new audience and alter the trajectory of Scottish politics.

Blair Jenkins, chair of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission in 2008, a former head of news and current affairs at both STV and BBC Scotland, and chief executive of the Yes Scotland campaign

IT is obviously significant that the issue of loss of trust in BBC news is the very first item raised in the SNP submission. I think the BBC knows it has a perception problem with a large part of the Scottish audience and I hope there is a genuine attempt now to acknowledge and address this.

Judged by its own high standards, the BBC did not have a good Scottish referendum. It never resolved – and maybe never even understood – the challenge of fulfilling its journalistic responsibility to be providers of impartial news and current affairs, while simultaneously pursuing their corporate mission to be the world’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders for all things British.”

Willy Maley, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Glasgow University

THE SNP submission is rightly “cautiously optimistic” about the new BBC Scotland channel. A mix of hope and scepticism is a smart way to approach a public service broadcaster whose impartiality has been questioned, particularly in the context of the 2014 independence referendum, when the overwhelming Unionist bias of the print media was compounded by the role of the BBC.

That its own audience survey demonstrates low levels of trust in Scotland is a sign change is required, which means the new move should be welcomed, albeit in a “wait-and-see” way.

That the BBC often behaves like a press service for Downing Street, while being overly critical of Holyrood, is a symptom of its built-in British bias. The SNP are right to argue that the BBC’s London-centric focus is out of kilter with its charter, and that it needs to be held to account. The inadequate resourcing of the new channel justifies caution. The medium-term prospect of greater accountability, and news that is genuinely fair and balanced, urges optimism.

But there is a case to be made for the BBC being structurally and institutionally incapable of balance when it comes to the British imperial monarchy. I look forward to the day when being pro-Independence doesn’t mean being anti-Beeb, ideally because we have a genuinely inclusive and impartial Scottish Broadcasting Corporation.