Meeting of the Parliament 23 February 2016
Being politicians, it is natural that a lot of what we think about the BBC is determined by its political output. After all, what could be more important than what we have to say here in the Scottish Parliament? UK and international news should get a look-in, but preferably from a Scottish perspective. The BBC in particular, as the nation’s main public service broadcaster, is expected to fulfil the task of political reporting and to do so in a fair and even-handed way.
In trying to strike the right balance it is impossible to please everybody, especially in the current polarised political climate in which people are strongly divided by their views on constitutional issues. It is all too easy for politicians and activists to think that if the BBC is not a mirror reflecting their views, it must be pursuing its own political agenda or—worse still—the political agenda of another party. My feeling is that if people from all political perspectives think that the BBC is biased, it is probably doing an okay job of being relatively balanced—if not neutral.
Moving beyond news coverage, I say that there are also demands for more Scottish cultural content. That is not just a demand for more programmes that are Scottish; there is also, in some quarters, a demand for programmes that are “more Scottish”, with a dedicated Scottish channel as a home for them. That inevitably prompts on social media recollections of “The White Heather Club”. Of course, there is more to Scottish culture than that, and the vibrant contemporary culture of Scotland deserves a fair share of our airtime. What the social media reaction highlights is that reforms of the BBC’s output should be about what viewers want, and not about giving politicians more power over broadcasting. The public do not want state-controlled TV—federal or otherwise.
There is more to the Scottish broadcasting industry than Scottish output; there is a bigger picture that encompasses not just programmes that are made in Scotland for Scotland, but programmes that are made here for the United Kingdom and international markets. I will concentrate on that bigger picture. The expansion of BBC activity in Scotland should not just be about filling a perceived gap in Scottish needs but about expanding our contribution to the broader world of broadcasting. Indeed, as many people who gave evidence made clear, only by bringing in work for the market beyond Scotland can we safeguard and underpin production for Scotland. Paul McManus, for example, said that
“Scotland could sustain a commercial studio operation that sells its products abroad and helps to build the industry in Scotland.”—[Official Report, Education and Culture Committee, 5 January 2016; c 36.]
I would like to see more television programmes being made in Scotland for the UK and beyond—programmes that would put Scottish broadcasting on the global TV map in the way that “Dr Who” has put Wales on the map. I believe that we should make more programmes that serve bigger audiences.
In doing that, we must address long-standing issues about how the BBC quota system lifts and shifts financing and intellectual property rights to London-based companies. We must also address the BBC commissioning processes in which the ultimate decision-making power lies in London, which puts Scottish companies at a disadvantage. We need increased investment in Scotland and significant improvement of the quota system for commissioning. We can make programmes that travel the world—and not just sport and daytime TV shows, worth while though they may be. What about a Scottish Government-based drama that is like “Borgen” or “House of Cards”? The very mention of those programmes should be enough to set the parliamentary sketch writers scribbling.
We need both to foster and to attract talent and we need apprenticeships and training to sustain our broadcasting and film industries. Those are crucial to the growth and success of the Scottish industry, and the BBC should provide a fair share of such opportunities for Scotland in Scotland. We need young Scots to be given the opportunity to get into and to develop within Scottish broadcasting. Nevertheless, Scottish broadcasting should not be just a training ground and a staging post; it should be a destination to which others aspire, with the BBC being instrumental in achieving that.
16:59