The future of Scottish news...

Just seen someone trying to do this on another forum..and thought it may be relevant here?
Scottish news programmes are changing in way which has not been witnessed for years. Well known presenters are leaving, stations are disappearing and news cut backs make us wonder..what next. Many of you seem genuinely interested in this..so this is a thread dedicated to the future of Scottish news.
An ITV and BBC all in one option represents international, national and regional news in one show...Scotland Today and Reporting Scotland alone means a Scottish national news programme.

I could see the point of those arguing for a Scottish Six, but I was never keen on it.

To me there is a mish mash with BBC Scotland's news branding. We have all these different shows, with no link. Reporting Scotland never promotes Newsnight Scotland, at the end, whilst there is also an incoherent branding of the political shows - Hollyrood Live, Politics Scotland, and the Politics Show opt-out. 5 shows which often overlap in their remit.

I'd be tempted to get rid of Newsnight Scotland, and Politics Scotland. With the possibility of RS being cut , to fit in with the new Nationwide - I'd leave RS as a news round-up, with a new half-hour show, say at 8.30pm/9pm on Beeb 2 essentially having a news round up, but with more guests/analysis on the days events.

That's one thing i don't like about RS - they never have any studio guests, or even live OBs with guests - it's always reporters.

That's my 2 cents.

Yeah Breakfast News...something like 2 News Wales?

I agree with the comment that BBC Scotland news is terribly branded at the moment. There is no common thread between the brands. BBC Scot would argue that Newsnight and Reporting Scotland appeal to a different audience but even on Newsnight there is no promotion of shows like Good Morning Scotland (no real, proper promotion anyway!)

I've voted for a Scottish Six, Sky News Scot and nationwide Scotland Today. I used to argue against STV going for a nationwide show but I think it's necessarry now. I think the best move for STV would be to consult ofcom about pulling out of ITN's contract and producing a one hour Scotland Tonight show with heavy, hard Scottish and international news and 20 minutes of local news covering the micro regions. It's more than doable. We're a nation larger than Ireland and RTE manages to produce one hour of news in the evening. It could be simliar to that (with the regional opt added in)

I agree with the comment above - i.e. a Scotland-wide version of Scotland Today surely must be likely.

Although both newsrooms (RS and ST) have advanced over the years in terms of digital and other technology, their on-screen appearance hasn't quite kept up with that theme.

i.e. The studio sets of both programmes appear to have gone from huge, landmark and imposing studios, which hammers home a solidifying presence to the viewer, to their (both) current broom cupboard appearances. I really hate the current sets used by both programmes, which, to me, only serve to suggest that the programmes are second-rate, cheaply produced imitations of real news programmes.

Now, you know and I know that those comments are not neccessarily a true reflection of journalistic content and so on, however when you are trying to grab the attention of Joe Public, those things actually do matter. So, as well as a change in programme format suggested in Chris's poll here, I would also like to see a complete overhaul of the presentation.

Get rid of the (so many) second rate news presenters and overhaul the programmes completely by bringing in new (to Scotland perhaps) but experienced and credible journalistic talent.

Can't be bothered finding my option on the poll, so to be awkward I'm just going to post my option here:

In my dreams:
* BBC Scotland - Scottish Six, then regional Scottish news (north/south/east/west)
* ITV - Scotland Today and North Tonight with current proposed splits.

Realistically
* BBC Scotland - National six, then Reporting Scotland as is, but with occasional regional inserts
* ITV - Same - proposed splits will probably never happen.

Reporting Shetland is currently a joke of a programme. It is so concerned with box-ticking, in a desperate bid to cover the whole country, that it covers mind-numbing, irrelevant guff from Shetland and Aberdeen, and then gives 30 seconds to a high profile court case in Glasgow. Its news agenda is lazy, complacent and highly based on press releases (The Scottish Executive has announced...) and middle-class, poncy nonsense (Scottish Opera).

From this point, it's a bit of a step to say they should be given their own Scottish Six. However if given the right attitude (you are a national news programme, not a region), if the correct producer is brought in (the current programme gives the impression that the person in charge previously worked at BBC Channel Islands), and if some of the talent from down south came back up to work on their national news programme, bringing up what they've learned, it could work. It would also mean that the second half hour could be handed to proper regional news, as opposed to treating Scotland like a region instead of a country. And it would deal with the old 'in England and Wales' problem of the national news (where half the stories have no relevance to viewers north of the border).

However I can see the flaws, I can see why the government may not want it (give those damn Scotch their own news programme and they might think they're a country - before you know it they'll vote for independence), and I can see the funding flaws (we're spending how much for less than 10 per cent of the audience?). Although on the funding flaws - cancel River City - that'll do it in a oner.

Given all that though, I would ask that the BBC at least provide the same regions as SMG - north/central/south, preferably in separate programmes. If that's not even possible, then a national bulletin to start with, then deviating into the regions after three stories, or the national programme remaining but five minutes inserts of local news here and there, should work. It would mean that the lovely residents of Shetland get to hear about new birds, people in the Borders hear about their new car parking charges, and the rest of us can watch some real news.

As for SMG - it would be lovely if they could re-negotiate with ITN and do their own news hour, but there's no way in hell they want to do that any more. SMG exist simply to repackage ITV1 and take the advert money. They've just made virtually all of their best presenters - including household names who have been with the station for decades - redundant. They're not going to invest heavily in news. The best you can hope for is the fabled east/west north/south split, but I really suspect that'll just disappear off the landscape. And anyway, shouldn't it be up to the BBC to do this sort of thing? They haven't even proposed any sort of regional effort.

Why don't the BBC Scotland make use of the red button. Stories which directly impact Scotland could have an extra scottish view, publicised by the newsreader or reporter, saying press red for another view. This way the BBC would not have to spend too much money in creating a news service for Scotland. This would also give viewers a choice, and could be offered across the UK so Scottish people who are in residence across the rest of the UK will also get to watch.

In the current climate i do not believe that a Scotish national bulletin will ever get to air, the main reason being that every news organisation is trying to cut cost. Another option would be to expand the services online, so that different perspectives are offered, and some reports could also be extended online.

I have to commend you LONDON, as I always tend to link press red with Sky TV and BBC Digital is a part of many homes now..even in Scotland.
I think that is a really good idea, and may actually be a realistic option for Scots viewers. As for cost well, this side of TV is being developed at the moment, so they may already be looking at this?

would a scottish six even cost that much? I mean the majority of the stuff it would show would be a carbon copy of London, with just the less important England/Wales politics stories replaced with stuff more relevent north of the border.

I mean you could even just opt for certain stories and get the timing right, however Scotland can't even cope with optin into the titles on the Six correctly so that would never work..

I agree about the cost savings from adverts on a commercial station...but the editorial implications would be the same.
It would be very interesting to see the Beeb and STV going head to head with a Scotlandwide show..now that would may bring some life back into our programmes again!

p_c_u_k,

Happy Anniversary! I see that you have now been posting (mainly good stuff) for exactly two years!!


I would also like to think that a third major contender would join the landscape and to rival the current offerings from STV and BBC. Sky News Scotland has been rumoured here and elsewhere, however Sky may not be too interested in the initial capital outlay for something that may well only attract a dozen or so viewers. Having said the, SNI appears to work very well.

Can anyone post here what the average daily viewing figures are for ST and RS main editions? I did a quick search and couldn't find any data.

Cheers,
James

REPORTING SCOTLAND
Ahh the terrible twosome (Jackie "you canny shove yer granny aff a bus, because she's in possession of an travel entitlement card" Bird and David "Chilled oot" Robertson ) You'll never forget them will ye.

I could just imagine RS daen a split wi those twa on air - technically it would be quite funny, as we know how they have their "lovers rift" They would both be trying to edge out each other (raise their voice, so that it was only one that could be heard newsreading)

SMG
Sack all the shareholders and management at SMG and set Scottish and Grampian FREE from SMG! Rename Scottish TV to STV as planned, but keep the Grampian name.

SCOTLAND TODAY
*Increase the news hours
*Educational Resources - allow schools, Universities etc. access to the ST Library for use on projects etc.
*Bring back everyone that's left and beg those who are about to leave to stay with giving everyone a major pay rise (with the sacking of managment)
*Reinstate Lunchtime ST (taking advantage of an optout from "The Pulse") with the former setup it had during the mid-late '90s.
*If a makeover is really needed, then purchase the former 5 News Intergrated newsroom studio ('97-99 period) from ITN. Well why not? It's no being used at all now, just gathering dust - and it would really shoot the wind up RS:lol: - as well as go from one Scot (Kirsty Young - the pionner - to another!
*Promote Jane to Chief Sportscaster , her Deputy? Iona Scott or the very lovely Debbie (forgot her second name )
*Reinstate Agnes Wilkie

GRAMPIAN
*Increase news hours to allow the possibly of the reinstatement of their really intreaging gaelic news service i.e Telefios and other Gaelic news & documenteries with subtitles if need be.
*Educational Resources? A contract between Scottish Executive and Grampian to allow the station to produce educational resources for pupils, students and teachers to learn Gaelic. This means it rules oot the BBC monopoly on Educational resources.
*Increased pay rise for staff.