Five Live and the Scottish Six

[Scotsgait]

Following yesterday's story in the Sunday Herald about the Scottish Six, I put a comment supporting this on the Beeb's Five Live boards yesterday. As a new user of these boards, posts are pre-moderated - mine was approved and appeared on line.

What did I get this morning ? An e-mail saying that it had "broken House Rules". Eh ? It HAD been approved by them in the first place....did they just suddenly realise what it was about ?

I've now resubmitted it with a link to the article on the same subject in today's The Scotsman. Let's see how long it stays this time....

(The Beeb e-mail to me can be found here)

[Gypsum_Fantastic]

The BBC messageboards are woefully over-moderated - which is why their garbage and used by no-one. When I used them around 4 years ago, I responded to a message which ended 'perhaps I'm being silly' with a full detailed analysis and ending with 'yes, you are being silly'. This was 'removed on the grounds of taste'. It was absurd.

The Scottish Six is a hobby horse of Scottish_Republican on this forum. I vaguely know what it is about but probably don't. No-one could argue that there is a shortage of news or even that there is a shortage of Scottish news - as a hobby horse of mine, I believe people are over-exposed to news nowadays - so the value of a Scottish Six for news purposes is nil. It is essentially a propaganda tool for Scottish nationalists seeking to introduce a media culture that is sympathetic to their aims (cf. the struggle for The Herald and the, not entirely unrelated, 'demands' for a pro-independence newspaper). That's why Salmond supports it, not because he has a particular interest in keeping Scottish people informed.

[aNonnyMoose]

I'd sooner hear about what's going on in Scotland than endless rubbish about London, stories which only affect people in England and Wales, and ten minutes about bloody cricket...

[Scottish_Republican]

No, Gypsum it's not my "hobby horse". I support the idea, but getting our own channel is far more important. I dislike Reporting Scotland because it is downright provincial, and as bad as/worse than the various regional news programmes in England.

I agree with you about the over moderation. I once got a message censored because I used the word "Yiddish" - presumably because "Y-i-d" is offensive. I was talking about the language, and no anti-Semitism was implied!

[Gypsum_Fantastic]

Originally Posted by aNonnyMoose

I'd sooner hear about what's going on in Scotland than endless rubbish about London, stories which only affect people in England and Wales, and ten minutes about bloody cricket...

In the modern world, I don't see how anyone can claim they are 'missing' out on any news. There is an entire world of information at people's fingertips. A Scottish Six of 23 minutes or so in length 5 days a week would hardly be an eye-opener.

Originally Posted by Scottish_Republican

No, Gypsum it's not my "hobby horse". I support the idea, but getting our own channel is far more important. I dislike Reporting Scotland because it is downright provincial, and as bad as/worse than the various regional news programmes in England.

I'm always baffled what this means and what people expect a Scottish Six would do that Reporting Scotland and Scotland Today do not already provide. International news with a Scottish perspective - whatever that means?

I know what you mean by a distinctive channel but this seems to be a cultural problem rather than something that can be automatically fixed by legislation. The Scottish channels that do exist can hardly claim to be making a decent fist of it. Scottish Television recently had an autumn launch in which it launched no programmes. A criminal neglect that should have saw heads roll - starting with Bobby Hain, the ex-DJ now STV MD. BBC Scotland is slightly better but is run by a West End Mafia and relies too much on certain 'faces' that are in with the bricks. Its comedy output in the 1980's and 1990's, for example, relied heavily on the 'Naked Video' team and its various offshoots. Now it seems no comedy gets made unless Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill approve - 'Ford Kiernan stars as Greg Hemphill playing Karen Dunbar in the hilarious new comedy Get It Round Ye Ya Bam, from Effingee Productions'. This is a cultural problem in these two stations that wouldn't go away with legislation. Maybe the Scottish Establishment, being so small, is naturally cliquey and parochial.

[Scotsgait]

Originally Posted by Gypsum_Fantastic

I'm always baffled what this means and what people expect a Scottish Six would do that Reporting Scotland and Scotland Today do not already provide. International news with a Scottish perspective - whatever that means?

We get such news programmes through BBC Radio Scotland. What we're asking for is something similar on TV.

[Gypsum_Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Scotsgait

We get such news programmes through BBC Radio Scotland. What we're asking for is something similar on TV.

What would that mean, though? David Robertson giving you the latest news from India rather than Natasha Kaplinksy? Would that make you feel better inside?

Really, we get one hour from 6 to 7, on each main channel, of international, national and local news, we have 24 hour rolling news channels and still you have nationalists who feel it's insufficient.