THE saga of the BBC’s censoring of two pro-independence channels on YouTube moved on yesterday when the Corporation finally admitted that the matter had been handled all along by its intellectual property team in London and BBC Scotland was never consulted.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond had take up the cause of Wings Over Scotland and independence campaigner Peter Curran after their channels on YouTube were taken off the air after the BBC alleged breach of its copyright.
The BBC action sparked a row which at one point saw BBC Scotland reporting on the issue and questioning its Head of Public Policy Ian Small on air. He claimed that Edinburgh Labour councillor Scott Arthur had made the copyright breach known to the BBC, which Arthur hotly denied.
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Yesterday Phil Harrold, the company secretary of the BBC, wrote to Salmond ahead of an internal review of the procedures of the BBC on such issues.
He wrote: “The BBC deals with complaints concerning the mis-use of its content from across the world ... and it is not practical to engage each at a divisional level.
“In this instance, since the content was deemed to infringe the BBC’s copyright on a legal/rights analysis, BBC Scotland was not engaged in the original reports to YouTube. We will be reviewing our current approach as part of our internal review.”
Harrold confirmed that Scott Arthur had made no complaint. His own YouTube material had been complained about, and the BBC acted after “he noted that various YouTube channels were examples he had referred to in determining whether his own use of BBC content was ‘fair’.”
Salmond has asked what other "takedown" action the BBC had initiated and Harrold replied: “We do not currently have any central database recording all infringing content on individual channels that has been taken down over the last 12 months. However, we can confirm that we have taken action across the political spectrum, including where political parties have used BBC content in a manner which may suggest to the public that there is any connection or endorsement between the BBC and that party.”
BBC Scotland staff have been angered by the row they did not cause and been criticised as a "branch office" on social media. A BBC Scotland spokesman said: “As Phil Harrold indicates what the position is re the location of the intellectual property team, and how it was handled, we wouldn’t have anything further to add.”
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