BBC Network news - no longer relevant for the nations?

On the BBC News at 6 today, all of the headline stories were only relevant to England. As the easing of Coronavirus restrictions continues apace in England but Scotland, Wales and NI take different approaches, with Scotland and Wales easing restrictions much more slowly, the BBC national news now is increasingly irrelevant to the nations.

By broadcasting English only news to the nations, people who don't bother to watch their regional news, can be easily confused as to what's happening in their nation. Is it time that Wales Today, Reporting Scotland and Newsline were shown at 6pm, with a national and international news programme from London for the nations, that doesn't have a heavily English news focus, shown in Wales, Scotland & NI at 6:30pm?

(Unlikely to happen I know due to costs, but it should happen none the less)

That is one of the more compelling arguments I've seen for the Scottish Six idea.

Not just in Scotland. As you can tell from my username, I'm in Wales, and I'm fed up of watching the 'National' news with every Coronavirus related report being relevant only to England, and then Wales Today having to contradict or clarify everything that was just previously reported in the last 30 minutes because everything in Wales is different.

The BBC have got slightly better recently in pointing out what news reports refer only to England, but there are still slip ups. Reports increasingly say 'the government' - which government? The Welsh government? The Scottish government? The Westminster government? It's not made clear. Last week there was a report on Thursday's 6 about relaxing the 2m social distancing rule and re-opening the hospitality industry. The entire report was only relevant to England, but this wasn't made clear once in the Intro by Sophie Raworth or in the main report.
It's just pointless and causes confusion for Welsh/Scottish viewers as to what rules they have to follow and what news is relevant to them, which as time goes on, seems like hardly any of the domestic content of the national bulletins.

How do US networks manage with 50 different state governments?

Have a feeling this is ideological before anything else.

To be honest, I think most "national" news is very much England-centric if not London-centric. I'd be in favour of what the ABC in Australia does where their main evening bulletin at 7pm, is a combination of national, international and local news, presented from each region for each region , and do something like that for the 6pm bulletin. I know it's not going to happen, cos bean counters have been running the media for way too long now, but it would make the news feel more relevant to viewers, rather than as some distant thing that can be safely ignored.

Its an interesting idea. I recall many years ago Look North Leeds had a brief national and local update at the end of the bulletin but as you said it wouldn't happen not just because of the bean counters but that London would throw a strop.

What's ideology got to do with it? It's just pointless to broadcast England only news to the nations, especially at a time when people need to be well informed about the rules and regulations they must follow in their nation. Having English only news presented first as the most important news is wrong for the nations where different rules apply and different governments are in charge.


A prime example of this was the Prime Minister's 10 May broadcast to the UK. Wales Today had to do a 30 minute program straight after it, telling viewers that NONE of what the PM had just announced applied to Wales and viewers in Wales needed to ignore everything they'd just heard. It was absolutely pointless the broadcast going out in Wales and Scotland.

Almost everything, I'd hazard.

Please give examples to back up your points, or your posts are meaningless.

Meaningless is an abstract concept.

Isn't part of the challenge that in situations like this the UK Government is in effect the English government because so much of it is devolved but there is no such thing as the English government.

As I said earlier it’s a good idea but there are potential issues but before I go on I have to issue a warning

Fantasy scheduling ahead.

A BBC News Yorkshire for example would have to be an hour long each night to provide a decent service. It would have rely a lot on network reporters.

There wouldn’t be any live reports for national or world stories.

Where would the split be between world/national and local stories? 6.30 is the best bet.

An interesting idea but no chance of it ever happening.