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Change to BBC approach in Scotland ‘cannot now be resisted’

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Greater Scottish representation on the BBC “cannot be resisted” amid widespread public dissatisfaction and insufficiencies identified during the independence referendum, according to the Scottish Government.

The SNP administration has outlined its vision for public service broadcasting in Scotland which it hopes to implement as part of the BBC charter renewal this year.

It wants broadcasting policy to be fully devolved to Holyrood and sees charter renewal as a stepping-stone towards this ambition.

It stated: “In the period following the referendum on Scottish independence, there has been detailed scrutiny of the news and current affairs coverage in Scotland.

“A common thread through this discussion has been the assertion that the current coverage of both national and international news and current affairs by BBC Scotland is insufficient in both scope, scale and quality of output, with audience satisfaction figures at little more than 50%.

“A more comprehensive approach to news with a greater voice for Scottish journalists on Scottish issues in the UK network as well as on national and international stories for the Scottish network cannot now be resisted and is a change which does not require changes in the charter.

“The recent appointment of a Head of News in Scotland is a welcome first step, however there would also need to be a more fundamental consideration by the BBC of how it ensures that national and network news is able to cover stories from within and outwith Scotland, and make best use of our journalistic talent to better reflect the views of audiences.”

It called for a “Scottish Six” – a separate six o’clock news programme covering the world from a Scottish perspective.

It added: “The Scottish Government’s policy proposals for BBC Charter are rooted in a long-standing policy position which has, at its heart, the principle that broadcasting policy should be fully devolved.

“In the absence of this current level of constitutional change, the BBC Charter process provides the opportunity to deliver elements of the policy vision for broadcasting in Scotland, which may eventually build towards a more significant level of constitutional change in this area.”

The Scottish Government stressed it is “very strongly committed to the editorial independence of the BBC” but has requested the devolution of editorial control “to ensure that appropriate editorial decisions can be made, in particular in relation to news and current affairs which accurately reflect the impact of issues in Scotland”.

A federalised BBC with a semi-autonomous Scottish board should be created to hold BBC Scotland to account and should itself be accountable to the Scottish Parliament, it said.

It also wants more support for Scottish independent producers to take their content to the global market and for BBC Alba to receive the same levels of in-house programming as the Welsh language channel S4C.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “With full control of the money raised in Scotland through the licence fee, BBC Scotland could deliver up to an additional £100 million of investment in Scotland’s creative sector over the course of just one year, supporting an extra 1,500 jobs and contributing up to an additional £60 million to Scotland’s economy.

“Over the period of the next Charter, this would see as much as £1 billion invested directly in Scotland’s creative economy and around £600 million of additional economic benefit.”