Richard Walker: Like Scotland, the BBC must be given its independence

In the current political and cultural climate it’s a good time to ask what BBC Scotland is actually for.

Right now there is a range of answers:

- It’s a business which provides welcome jobs in the creative industry.

- It’s a creator – or more commonly these days a commissioner – of cultural content. In that role it’s expected to provide programmes which reflect and promote Scotland’s culture and character.

- It’s a news provider required to publish unbiased reports reflecting a different range of opinions on a wide range of subjects without showing support for a particular political party or viewpoint.

Each one of those roles present difficult challenges and the corporation has come under fire for its performance in each. Given the importance of its role in our national life – even in the age of multi-platform media bombardment – it could hardly be otherwise.

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The row over the future use of two Glasgow studios reflects directly on BBC Scotland role as a job creator.

It has been suggested that the running of the studios in Glasgow be transferred to the control of BBC Studioworks, a commercial subsidiary of the corporation.

That might bring benefits to Studioworks, which could charge a range of customers (presumably including BBC Scotland) for the use of the studios.

It’s difficult, though, to see any benefits for BBC Scotland and by extension its viewers. Which is why the broadcasting union Bectu is fighting the change and warning that it could result in dozens of job losses damage to the television sector as work moves out of Scotland.

This is bad news for the 150 skilled staff directly employed at the studios on a range of programmes including The Nine and Reporting Scotland. But it could hit viewers too, if it hampers programme making because access to the studios becomes more restricted.

Two leading executives at BBC Scotland have reportedly told staff they are not in favour of the proposal.

Scotland’s new Culture Secretary Angus Robertson is concerned enough to want talks with the BBC’s director general Tim Davie and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she is opposed to the move.

“I cannot see – and have not seen – anything that suggests that it would be in the interests of Scotland as a whole or of the production system or of the production sector in particular,” she said this week.

Of course, a substantial number of National readers and independence supporters will care not a jot for the internal problems of BBC, which they view as a Westminster lapdog dedicated to doing down the Yes movement.

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Headlines critical of the BBC include its failure to include pro-indy voices in a radio discussion of English votes for English laws, its rebuff of an interview with SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford in a discussion over Michael Gove’s use of Covid cash for Union polling, English-centric Euros coverage and Fiona Bruce’s loose grasp of British geography on Antiques Roadshow … and that’s in just a few weeks.

But independence supports will at some point have to turn their attention to what they would like to see on their television screens in an independent Scotland.

If they don’t rate BBC news just now how could it be improved? How should it be regulated? Should we have a national broadcaster at all? Should broadcasting be devolved before we even get to independence?

These are serious questions and I don’t think the independence movement has yet devised serious answers.

The current system at least has the ability to hold BBC Scotland to account in a way that Netflix, for instance, is not.

It’s true that “holding to account” is not the same as being able to change policy but I’m not sure that giving politicians that power would be a step in the right direction.

Netflix has no responsibility other than to entertain. If you find that entertainment less than thrilling there’s an easy solution. You simply cancel the direct debit. The same is not true of the BBC.

We expect BBC Scotland to do more than create jobs, we also expect it to create programmes – and particularly drama – that accurately reflect the country we live in.

It wasn’t that long ago that the only time we heard a Scottish voice on prime-time BBC was when a new thug was introduced to the EastEnders cast list.

Things are better now but there’s still a long way to go before enough first-rate Scottish is on our screens. There are some fantastic shows – Shetland, the recent triumph, Guilt and Two Doors Down with Elaine C Smith spring to mind – but it’s not enough.

Analysis published by the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (Spice), found the BBC raised just under £324 million last year from licence fee payers in Scotland but spent £223m – 69% – in Scotland, with the remaining £101m directed to headquarters. The percentage was down from 72% during 2016/17, despite pledges to increase it.

The BBC percentage spend in Scotland will be another item on the agenda for Angus Robertson’s talk with Tim Davies. It has long been a sore point for the Scottish Government.

But it’s not just about money … BBC Scotland needs the ambition, drive and vision to improve its programming. Its news programme The Nine on the new BBC Scotland channel is an example of what can be achieved with that determination.

Yet it will take more than that to answer the claims of institutional bias against independence from those who have stopped paying their licence fees in protest.

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WITHOUT raking over the coals of the old debate about the need for a Scottish-edited nightly 6pm news programme, I’d suggest that BBC Scotland is seriously hindered by its relationship with its London “overlords” in much the same way as Scotland itself is prevented from reaching its full potential by the Union.

The very idea of allowing its Scottish operation to edit the main evening news broadcast – and thereby giving Scottish news and the Scottish Parliament their proper place in national and international mix – so terrified BBC bosses that they created an entire new channel to avoid doing so.

And just as Scotland’s only chance to properly flourish is to break free of the Union, BBC Scotland will have to escape London control to really do its job.

So regardless of the outcome of Angus Robertson’s meeting – and for what it’s worth I think hiving off the Glasgow studios is a terrible idea which should be stopped in its tracks immediately – it’s time to tackle the big issue of broadcasting in the devolved Scotland of today and in the independent Scotland of tomorrow.

To do that properly the decisions will have to be taken north of the Border rather than handed down from on high by London executives who think a visit to Scotland by the Queen has us all in raptures and that Brexit has inspired us to embrace self-confidence in the Euros (courtesy Jeremy Vine).

Those decisions are looming and it’s best for the independence movement to join the discussions before the mistakes of the past are repeated.