THIS deal between the SNP and Greens really has been tripping the BBC up, hasn’t it?
We’ve already fact-checked the claim made in a Good Morning Scotland piece that the legal power for indyref2 lies exclusively with Westminster – and they didn’t come out of it well.
READ MORE: BBC presenter WRONG to say legal indyref2 powers lie with UK
Now, we’re turning the clock back slightly to Radio 4, as this was a gaffe that really says it all to such an extent that we don’t want to miss it.
It was time for the 5pm headlines on PM, still available on BBC Sounds if you’d like to listen for yourself.
Andrew Peach was the newsreader for the segment.
See if you can spot the error: “The SNP and the Green party have finalised a power-sharing deal at Stormont which includes commitment to hold a new referendum on Scottish independence in the next five years.
“In return, two Green MSPs will be appointed junior minister in Nicola Sturgeon’s government.
“The First Minister said the arrangement would not be a coalition, and admitted the two parties did not see eye to eye on several policy issues.”
National readers will not be too surprised when we point out that the power-sharing deal was not, in fact, struck at Stormont.
Stormont, pictured above, is the Parliament Buildings of Northern Ireland, home to that nation's Assembly. Holyrood, pictured below, is home to the Scottish Parliament.
While much power-sharing talk has involved that particular seat of democracy, it was very much not where the SNP and Greens were concerned with – that would be Holyrood.
The clue is also in the name of the “Bute House Agreement”, which is where First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met with Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.
It was said with such confidence on-air that we have to wonder whether the error was written into the script – and if so, how it got all the way to air.
The less generous among us might suggest it speaks to how out-of-touch the BBC is with politics in Scotland.
And that’s not even to, necessarily, blame the presenters – as it’s very much a structural issue with its coverage.
It didn't go unnoticed on social media either.
BBC 5.00pm headlines announce the SNP and Greens reach a power sharing deal at Stormont. Now that would be a story @BBCNews tell us more!
— Isabel Hilton (@isabelhilton) August 20, 2021
Dear @BBCRadio4 immediately following feedback asking if BBC were on the ball about reporting Gov matters eg in the Afghanistan situation - you reported on the 5pm news that Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie were forming a partnership in Stormont
— Barbara Nairn~ 💙😷☮💙 (@BarbaraNairn) August 20, 2021
Did you mean Holyrood? Scotland
'The SNP and the Green party have concluded a power sharing deal at Stormont', says BBC news. Stormont? Shome mishtake shurely? @tweeter_anita @BBCRadio4
— Dr Ghee Bowman (@GheeBowman) August 20, 2021
Scotland deserves so much better from broadcasters – once is a mistake, but when it keeps on and keeps on happening?
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