IN recent weeks, many Scottish viewers of the BBC News channel will have had a curious sense of deja vu while watching the Outside Source programme.
A flagship programme since 2013, the BBC describes Outside Source as “the programme that gathers the latest information as it arrives from news wires, video feeds and social media on the biggest stories of the day”.
Lately, however, it has also been attracting unwanted attention for its new logo. At the opening and closing of the programme, an animated letter O has spun around, shifting into two semi-circles that sit at angles to each other. The resulting image is of a large letter S sitting inside the broken circle.
READ MORE: BBC receive hundreds of complaints over John McEnroe comments on Emma Raducanu
A clever combination of the show’s initials, O and S, it may be, but there is nothing new about the logo. As Scottish aficionados of the works of Verdi and Puccini could have warned the Beeb, the “new” symbol was, to all intents and purposes, identical to the long-established logo of Scottish Opera.
Staff at Scotland’s national opera company were among the viewers who were taken aback by the uncanny similarity between the two logos. Concerned to see its well-known symbol being appropriated by Atkins’s programme (albeit, presumably, inadvertently), Scottish Opera contacted the BBC.
The embarrassed broadcaster was unable to contest the almost identical likeness of the two logos. Following a short period of communication, the corporation agreed to phase out its new symbol in short order.
In a statement to the Sunday National, Scottish Opera was keen to play down the logo dispute.
Caroline Dooley, Scottish Opera’s director of marketing and communications, said: “Scottish Opera and the BBC have been in communication about the matter, and it has amicably been resolved. The BBC are in the process of amending their Outside Source logo.”
For its part, the BBC declined to give an official statement, but confirmed that the issue had been resolved “amicably” and that “the BBC will be changing the Outside Source logo in the near future”.
The BBC would not comment on whether graphic designers had received licence fee payers’ money for the creation of the soon-to-be-withdrawn Outside Source logo.
Nor would the corporation explain whether, or not, the design was merely the consequence of a freak coincidence.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel