This is the BBC
The way in which BBC Scotland is run, the quality of care it shows for the many good people who work for it, the standard of what it does, the public service in Scotland ethos it supposedly represents are some of the more important questions facing the Scottish nation. But it is doubtful they can be successfully addressed within the control systems that prevail at the present time. The result is that the BBC is failing Scots when they need it most. The primary blockages firmly implanted the minds of those who retain control of the British state media output are:
“That the BBC, is the glue that holds Great Britain & Northern Ireland together and any weakening of the corporation will bring about its end. So the quality of the paste is suspect and yet the BBC dictatorial powers decide the daily agenda for the Queens subjects, how they talk to each other and what about. This being the case it is imperative that Scots are able to trust the BBC and feel they have a personal investment in it, otherwise it will be lost and Britain with it.”
BBC Bias against Scottish Indepencence
Before, during and after the 2014 independence referendum the public perception was and still is that there was/is an on-going agenda within BBC Scotland ensuring support of Unionist ideals and policies to the exclusion of other political opinions in Scotland. The evidence for the foregoing is the huge number of unresolved complaints and public demonstrations all voicing concern and anger about the blatant lack of impartiality of the news and current affairs division based in Glasgow. Scottish opinion has been marginalised by the very media that Scots are compelled to pay an annual subscription for. And that is an insult added to injury for most Scots.
Protection of the Scottish Culture
In denying the Scots their right to active promotion of cultural diversity, through broadcasting with other parts of Great Britain & Northern Ireland the government in Westminster and its Whitehall controlled BBC is in breach of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – Article 11 – Freedom of expression and information. Indeed a well respected and truly impartial BBC journalist was asked if the perception that BBC Scotland was anti-nationalist was, in his view, justified said: “Put it this way, it probably comes more naturally to them to attack the nationalists than to attack the union.”
The Smith Commission
There were nine cross-party meetings over seven weeks prior to the publication of a agreed draft of “Heads of Agreement” proposals on 21 November 2014. It emerged that that Unionist panel members and MSP’s of political parties incorporated in Scotland and allegedly independent of Westminster were frequently on the phone taking instructions from their Party leaders in London. The Commission chairman, Lord Smith of Kelvin, also gave impression he added weight to the views of the three main Westminster parties over panel members. A source said: “The position that Lord Smith took was that if the parties who were either in the current UK government or might be in the next refused to budge on something, he went with it. The Unionist votes counted for more.”
Nov 2014: Devolution deal for Scotland
Lord Smith of Kelvin, praised Scottish political leaders for coming together after a “bruising” referendum, with a reminder that the cross-party commission had been set up after the unionist parties promised greater powers for Scotland in the event of a no vote in the independence referendum, in a pledge known as “The Vow”. The deal was promoted by Unionist “no” campaigners as the greatest transfer of powers to Scotland since the Scottish Parliament was set up 15 before. Drawn up in little over two months it included the transfer to the Scottish Parliament of broadcasting:
Control of broadcasting policy, remitted to Scotland for near 70 years before being taken away in 1991 by the government in Westminster, without consultation would be returned to Scotland. The “Broadcasting Council for Scotland” would be established providing Scotland with the longstanding broadcasting governance arrangements which had been in place between 1946-1991.
But the foregoing new arrangements were were axed without explanation, on the final day, at the instigation of Unionist parties in London and in Scotland and replaced with:
“Scottish Government is to have a role in reviewing the BBC’s charter and the BBC management in Scotland will be expected to report to to the Scottish Parliament’s committees”.
Up Yours – BBC Scotland senior managers refuse to meet with MSP committee
Ken MacQuarrie, Head of BBC Scotland and his enforcer, Head of News and Current Affairs and Labour Party supporter bully boy Boothman refused to appear before the Scottish Education and Culture Committee at Holyrood stating that BBC management in Scotland was not accountable to the Scottish Government. They were subsequently ordered to appear by the Chairman of the BBC Trust and finally did so but stonewalled every question put to them. Boothman, (later exposed as a bully left the BBC soon after and transferred his employment to the private sector after a protracted struggle with staff and trade unions.
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