FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been forced to remind the BBC that they are a “public service broadcaster” after the corporation moved to stop routinely broadcasting the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefings.
She warned that the lack of televised briefing could deny some of Scotland’s most vulnerable communities of vital public health information.
From next week the BBC will stream the regular sessions online, and only show them on TV when they have”news value”.
Previously, they have been broadcast on BBC One Scotland and the BBC Scotland channel, as well as being streamed on the BBC News website and played out on BBC Radio Scotland.
Yesterday, the corporation revealed that the average viewing figures have been 280,000 on BBC One Scotland and 40,000 on BBC Scotland.
Those are big numbers for a Scottish broadcast.
READ MORE: BBC boss urged to explain decision to ditch Scottish Covid-19 briefings
By way of comparison, BBC Scotland’s flagship, The Nine, was averaging 35,000 viewers a night last year, though on some days, figures slumped to between five and eight thousand.
The decision was criticised by Donald MacAskill, chief executive of Scottish Care. He said he was “very disappointed that, in the midst of the largest public health emergency ever, BBC Scotland has decided to cut back coverage of the Scottish government daily briefing”.
He warned that the impact would “disproportionately affect older persons and those with disabilities”
Speaking at yesterday’s briefing, Sturgeon said it was up to the BBC to decide what they chose to broadcast.
But she said with the number of positive cases rising and winter fast approaching, it had “never been more important than it is right now” for her to communicate with the people of Scotland.
She added: “The televising of these briefings at a time like this have been a public service and the BBC is a public service broadcaster.
“The televising of these briefings have been important in allowing me to communicate information and advice directly, and giving us the opportunity to explain the reasoning and rationale behind the decisions we’re taking, and the things we’re asking people to do.”
The First Minister said that the” more people can understand why they’ve been asked to restrict their lives in certain ways, the more likely it is that they’re going to comply with that”. She went on to say Scotland was “clearly now at a point where the virus is accelerating again”.
“We are going into winter, so, it becomes more important, not less important over this next period for me to be able to continue that very direct communication.
“These briefings will always be broadcast on Scottish Government channels so they will always be available for people to see, but not everybody is as hooked into the internet and technology as some of us are.
READ MORE: Scottish Care's Donald Macaskill slams BBC axing Covid briefings
“What has struck me over the period that these briefings have been televised, and this is reflected in my mailbag, is that they have been particularly important to certain sections of the population that maybe don’t routinely go on to the internet or watch things on their phones, and that is older people who I think have really found the source of information important.
“It has been particularly important to people with disabilities, perhaps people with hearing impairment, we’ve had fantastic BSL translation throughout all of this.
“I know it was important over an earlier period and perhaps still is for people in the shielding category, again disproportionately older more vulnerable people.
“That brings me back to the point I made at the outset, and what is broadcast in the BBC is a matter for the BBC, but we are in unique circumstances right now, and the ability for me and for my colleagues to communicate directly with the public has never been more important than it is right now.”
The First Minister rejected opposition claims that the broadcasts were political. “I’ve always taken great care to try to not stray into political territory, I am not saying I’ve never slipped up, I am fallible, but I’ve always recognised my responsibility to keep these briefings very much on topic.”
Ian Small, the head of public policy and corporate affairs at BBC Scotland, said a decision on which briefings would be broadcast live would be led by “what information is being imparted by the Scottish government”.
He said: “Where it is appropriate to cover the briefings in their entirety, on TV, we will do so. That is not, nor has it ever been, in question.”
Small said the arrangements would be kept “under review”.
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