The Newsroom

BBC to trial Scottish Six

(February 2016)

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BA
bilky asko
If the North West had a parliament, would your opinion change?

Catalonia has a parliament. So does Bavaria. So does Alberta.

You've not explained why the 'silliest part of my argument; is the silliest part of my argument, or silly at all.

Cool, there'll be the One and Ten, but that's not relevant if one only tends to watch the Six for whatever reason. They'll also be the next to go: give a yard take a mile and all that.

I've outlined my reasons for being 'so' against the plan; some more than once, over my previous three posts.

Lastly, I think you're being contrarian for the sake of it. It's your 'thang'.


Catalonia has its own TV network, never mind its own news programme. Most of Spain's autonomous communities have their own TV channels.

Catalonia has two bulletins covering the whole of Catalonia and a regional service covering its four regions. (EDIT: And a 24 hour news channel).

I explained why that part of the argument is silly, because you infer that by Scotland gaining the Scottish Six, it isn't "managing" to have a national bulletin. It'll still have two on BBC One alone! And let's not forget that the BBC News channel will likely show the non-Scottish Six for those desperate to watch it.
Last edited by bilky asko on 1 March 2016 4:18am
MK
Mr Kite
Scotland can have its own TV network too then but leave the BBC alone. The continued existence of the One and the Ten (how long would they last) doesn't make the Six expendable. The reason the three exist is because most people won't watch all three of them in any given day and news develops throughout the day, so they won't always have the same items. I simply don't think the current arrangement is a problem and that the change is political, not practical. There may be the odd story about schools in England that the Scottish Six could drop but most of it would be duplication of what the network is covering and is not worth such a dramatic change nor the extra cost that surely comes with producing it. If Scotland could do with anything, it's surely local opt out segments in Reporting Scotland.
BA
bilky asko
Scotland can have its own TV network too then but leave the BBC alone. The continued existence of the One and the Ten (how long would they last) doesn't make the Six expendable. The reason the three exist is because most people won't watch all three of them in any given day and news develops throughout the day, so they won't always have the same items. I simply don't think the current arrangement is a problem and that the change is political, not practical. There may be the odd story about schools in England that the Scottish Six could drop but most of it would be duplication of what the network is covering and is not worth such a dramatic change nor the extra cost that surely comes with producing it. If Scotland could do with anything, it's surely local opt out segments in Reporting Scotland.


I don't know where you get this idea that only education stories will be irrelevant to Scotland. Agriculture, education, health, justice, fisheries, forestry, the environment, the Police and Fire Services, and more are all under the power of the Scottish Parliament.
Cando and London Lite gave kudos
SN
Silver Nemesis
The very straightforward answer is for network news to be a lot more aware of what's going on in Scotland/Wales/NI and, if they would cover a story which politically concerns only England, then they should be prepared to give proportionate coverage to an equivalent story in Scotland/Wales/NI. I'm sure this was raised a while back and network said they would signpost the relevance of such stories better - they just need to get better at doing so.

What the nationalists/pro-devolution people forget is that there are plenty of places in England that rarely get a look-in at all on network news unless something big actually happens there, and I don't see why Scotland (or Wales/NI - and I speak as a Welshman myself) should be different.

The only people who actually want a Scottish Six are the local politicians who want more airtime (indeed there was a piece in a paper the other day which described the appetite among ordinary folk as 'muted') - the same applies to things like local non-news programming, which many people may well find interesting, but usually not at the expense of network programmes.
GL
globaltraffic24
The problem with some of the comments on here - and much of the general argument about a Scottish six -is that everything is positioned as 'nationalists' versus 'unionists'. I know plenty of people in Scotland who are vehemently against independence but would completely understand the rationale behind a Scottish six. 'Signposting' an England-only story does not make it more relevant. That simply means running a 3 minute package of no relevance to Scotland and quickly mentioning at the end of the story that Scotland does something completely different.

One quick-fix for the BBC would be to take a firmer-handed approach to editorial judgement. Health, education, etc should not be given such weight if it is only of interest to one part of the country. The BBC's argument is that this is exactly the kind of news items that 6pm viewers want. Therefore, it backs itself into a corner whereby it needs to agree to a Scottish programme.

I think the time has come for the BBC to explore a far more devolved news service focused on each of the devolved regions. It simply makes sense. The news teams are all in place. As has been stated previously, regional US news shows manage just fine covering a mix of local, regional and national news on their 6pm shows.

Everyone, including the TVForumers, need to stop reverting back to the old pro-SNP and anti-SNP debate, and focus on the genuine case behind the rhetoric.
DO
dosxuk
The thing with keeping back from putting stories that affect the nations differently is that over 80% of the viewers are affected. If we have to have a Scottish six because the lead stories on the main programme aren't relevant enough, why shouldn't we have a Yorkshire six, or a London six?

How about doing a Scottish One show instead? That'd give them an extra 30 minutes to cover national / local news without having to deal with the issues of splitting the six.
GL
globaltraffic24
While I don't have any objection to your idea of regional news in England doing their own editions (why not!) you are slightly missing the point here. Education, tax, law, health, policing and justice are not devolved to Yorkshire. Therefore, a story about major changes to the NHS in England are applicable in London and Yorkshire. They mean NOTHING in Scotland. In recent times, the sweeping changes the UK Government has been making to both the NHS and schools in England has really emphasised how pointless much of the 'national news' has become up here. I really enjoy the BBC News and think they do a sterling job navigating the complexities of devolution. However, I am not going to sit through a 30 minute news programme with news that's as relevant as watching ARD's Tagesschau! The BBC is definitely bowing slightly to pressure from the Scottish government, but it's also being proactive in dealing with an increasing issue that risks alienating viewers in Scotland.
DT
DTV
Survation Opinion Poll for the Scottish Daily Mail asked whether or not people supported the Scottish Six
Support: 36%
Oppose: 33%
Don't Know: 32%
SN
Silver Nemesis
In recent times, the sweeping changes the UK Government has been making to both the NHS and schools in England has really emphasised how pointless much of the 'national news' has become up here. I really enjoy the BBC News and think they do a sterling job navigating the complexities of devolution. However, I am not going to sit through a 30 minute news programme with news that's as relevant as watching ARD's Tagesschau!

Coming from a Welsh perspective - because the bulk of those sorts of issues are devolved here too - I've never really felt that such things are completely irrelevant, as there's always an ongoing political debate about which of the various governments' policies is the right one. The relevance of something isn't necessarily determined by who it directly affects. Of course, there are always going to be news days where big English-domestic issues like the doctors' strike dominate the headlines across the UK (and by that I mean across the media, not BBC-specific) but most of the time there's a healthy balance of world news, Westminster politics and non-geospecific stories on the Six - it's certainly not 30 minutes of English news.


The thrust of the argument for a Scottish Six seems to be that Scottish issues aren't covered as well as they should be on network news and English-only issues aren't identified as such clearly - both issues can and should be fixed as a matter of editorial judgement without merging the Six and Reporting Scotland into an hour-long programme with all the issues that causes in practical terms.
tmorgan96 and Mr Kite gave kudos
RK
Rkolsen
I must say this topic is entertaining to read.

I can understand the need for the Scottish newscast but my question is how well do they fill the current show without resulting in filler material?
MK
Mr Kite
Coming from a Welsh perspective - because the bulk of those sorts of issues are devolved here too - I've never really felt that such things are completely irrelevant, as there's always an ongoing political debate about which of the various governments' policies is the right one. The relevance of something isn't necessarily determined by who it directly affects. Of course, there are always going to be news days where big English-domestic issues like the doctors' strike dominate the headlines across the UK (and by that I mean across the media, not BBC-specific) but most of the time there's a healthy balance of world news, Westminster politics and non-geospecific stories on the Six - it's certainly not 30 minutes of English news.


God, thank you for this paragraph.
Last edited by Mr Kite on 1 March 2016 6:00pm
MK
Mr Kite
I don't know where you get this idea that only education stories will be irrelevant to Scotland. Agriculture, education, health, justice, fisheries, forestry, the environment, the Police and Fire Services, and more are all under the power of the Scottish Parliament.


I don't know where you get this idea that I think only education stories will be irrelevant to Scotland. I gave it as a singular example and I still not think it's by default irrelevant anyway.

Tell you what, Bilkers, me old mucker: the Six is about to start. We'll see what it contains and then we can have fun discussing whether or not it gives case to creating a parallel, bulletin in Glasgow for viewers north of the Tweed.

Can't wait.

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