REPORTING Scotland is more critical of the Scottish Government than the UK-wide News at Six is of the UK Government, research carried out by The National found.

Political stories put out on both evening news programmes were monitored from June 28 to July 2 and categorised by their framing towards each government.

Nine stories from the News at Six, and 11 stories from Reporting Scotland, were separated based on whether they were framed in a negative/critical, neutral or positive way. Negative or critical framing tended to lead with ministers or individuals being “accused of”, having to “defend” or “facing criticism”.

While three of Reporting Scotland’s 11 political stories during the period were negative/critical of the Scottish Government, not a single News at Six package had a negative framing towards the UK Government.

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Jenni Minto, the SNP MSP for Argyll and Bute, has said these findings should “set alarm bells ringing”.

Most political items on the UK-wide News at Six were neutral towards the UK Government – these included Sajid Javid saying we need to learn to live with Covid, the Prime Minister setting out changes to restrictions, compromise over the Northern Ireland protocol, changes to furlough and Labour winning the Batley and Spen by-election, which included comments from Boris Johnson.

Politics stories by framing on BBC News At Six and Reporting Scotland, June 28 to July 2

The half-hour programme also featured one story framing the UK Government in a positive light as Johnson welcomed 1600 new jobs Nissan is introducing in north-east England.

Last Tuesday, when the Scottish Government announced it was ending travel restrictions between Manchester and Salford and Scotland, the News at Six also ran a negatively framed story about Holyrood ministers. The story focused on the criticism of the travel rules from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

North of the Border, Pacific-Quay-based Reporting Scotland took a harder approach to broadcasting stories critical of the Scottish Government. During the set time period, the programme ran three negatively framed pieces – on whether the Test and Protect system is fit for purpose, leading with Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie, business anxiety over a possible deal between the SNP and Greens, and the First Minister defending Scotland’s contact tracing scheme, featuring comment from Glasgow list MSP Annie Wells.

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Two Scottish Government stories, on plans for Covid restrictions easing, were presented in a neutral light while one, on an extra £10 million for cancer diagnosis and treatment, was positive.

Four stories about the UK Government had a neutral framing, while just one was negative as the SNP “joined Labour” in calling for an inquiry into former health secretary Matt Hancock’s affair scandal.

When political stories from both Reporting Scotland and the News at Six were combined, just one was negative or critical about the Westminster government while four were negative or critical about the Holyrood government.

Reporting Scotland political stories by framing June 28 to July 2

“The findings of this research should set alarm bells ringing,” commented Minto.

“How can the BBC meet its own guidelines – which state that its news output must deliver ‘due impartiality’ – while the main network news takes a softball approach on the UK Government?

“We expect scrutiny of the SNP and the Scottish Government – and we demand the same levels of scrutiny of Boris Johnson and his Tory UK government.

“It is up to the BBC to show that it can be even-handed, otherwise any remaining trust for the BBC that exists in Scotland will evaporate.”

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Journalists across the BBC always strive for fairness, accuracy and impartiality in their reporting of news stories for our audiences across all our platforms.”

BBC News At Six political stories by framing June 28 to July 2