Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2011
I have not seen the show, but I have heard that it is an excellent piece of programming. I certainly would not include it in my comments, but we have made shows here that do not necessarily fulfil the remit of addressing our needs in Scotland. For example, when “Question Time” moves up here, David Dimbleby will remain ensconced in London.
Broadcasting is not about the number of widgets that are produced from a particular cost centre; it is about reflecting the richness of our culture. The broadcast media are just as important as literature, painting and theatre and provide the culture with which most people in the country engage. Broadcasting is hugely important for our national life, for scrutinising our democratic institutions, for offering a forum for debate and for promoting understanding of our country.
I draw members’ attention to research that has been uncovered by former BBC journalist Kenneth Roy, which shows that the amount of English-language programming that is made in Scotland and is about Scotland has fallen in the past few years. In 2004, £72 million was spent on such programming, but by 2009 the figure was £50 million. It is fantastic that we are building up technical capacity by making shows such as “The Weakest Link”, “The Old Guys” and “The National Lottery: Secret Fortune”, but that is a real problem if it is done at the expense of programmes that address important issues in our culture. I am not knocking the BBC—I happen to think that the BBC is a fine institution that produces fantastic quality and breadth.
Nationally, the BBC has a huge range of news and current affairs platforms. We have highbrow programmes such as “Today” and “Newsnight” and we have Radio 5 live and youth programmes such as “Newsbeat”, all of which are excellent. However, they do not have capacity to address Scottish news and current affairs, and I am not sure that it is reasonable for us to expect them to do that, because 90 per cent of the people who watch and listen to those programmes are in other areas of the UK. Although they might be interested in what happens in the chamber from time to time, they are not going to demand the level of detail that people in Scotland would. That is why it is important that we focus on improving the quality of programmes made in Scotland for Scots, and I am hopeful that the Scottish digital network will do that.
This is by way of illustration. We have just been through an election campaign and, as a member of the winning party, I perhaps should not complain about the coverage that we got. However, it was disgraceful that BBC Scotland, as the public service broadcaster, managed to do only one leaders’ debate that was broadcast late at night, whereas STV, which is not subsidised to the same extent, managed two at prime time.
During the general election last year, there was a huge lead-up to the leaders’ debate, which engaged people in the democratic process.