Nick Robinson may joke but it looks like Alex Salmond and the SNP intimidation has worked….the BBC is creating a ‘Scottish Editor’.
THE BBC is to appoint its first Scotland Editor as a response to the vociferous criticism of its coverage of the referendum. The corporation will shortly advertise the new post, and hope to appoint journalist to the high profile role by the end of October. The Scotland Editor will report on Scotland and its issues for the UK BBC network while being based in Scotland.
Which is curious as just two days earlier Robinson had written this…The BBC must resist Alex Salmond’s attempt to control its coverage
The BBC naturally deny this new job was as a result of the SNP bullying:
The new post, insiders say, was not prompted by high profile criticism of the BBC such as former First Minister Alex Salmond’s critique of the broadcasting of political editor Nick Robinson, or this week’s speech by Nicola Sturgeon, the current First Minister.
Instead it has been discussed for months and the BBC hopes to have the successful candidate in place by next month.
As the Guardian says:
The attacks on the BBC are deeply political too. Mr Salmond led a party that wants independence. He dislikes British institutions and has a vested interest in attempting to deny them legitimacy in Scotland – as the Glasgow protest against the BBC also aimed to do. He judges the media by whether they support his nationalist cause or not. At the SNP’s spring conference he proposed that the Scottish parliament, with its SNP majority, should be given control of broadcasting and the BBC in Scotland, even before any further referendum.
This should be seen for the bullying that it is.
The Guardian also tells us that:
Encouragingly, the current first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has attempted to distance herself from it. Last week, she even invited Mr Robinson and his family to a private dinner at Bute House, her official residence.
However Sturgeon has just made a speech in whih she tries to annex the BBC in Scotland and put it under SNP control:
Last night, Ms Sturgeon demanded that Scotland must get a dedicated BBC television channel to counter the often “ill-informed” coverage of London-based journalists who have “totally failed” to cover constitutional change.
As a minimum, Ms Sturgeon called for BBC editors based within Scotland to have greater ability to influence UK reporting, a specific Scottish site for iPlayer programmes, Scottish Parliament oversight for the BBC in Scotland, greater use of Scottish opt-outs,and more powers for the BBC commissioners based in Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon insisted, during her Alternative MacTaggart lecture, she does not believe the BBC’s coverage of the referendum was biased, but said BBC network journalists flown in during the final stages of the campaign “sounded less than fully informed”.
Scotland does indeed seem to get more like Putin’s Russia than is comfortable as Nick Robinson might say.
Strangely enough that old ‘fellow traveller’ Paul mason has leapt to the defence of Alex Salmond:
With Alex Salmond currently engaged in a war of words with Nick Robinson over the BBC’s ‘disgraceful’ coverage of the Scottish referendum, there is one former Beeb employee he can turn to in his time of need. Step forward Paul Mason….who said the BBC’s unionist values were part and parcel of the corporation:
‘I’m absolutely sure that the BBC believes it is a unionist institution. It thinks if Scotland becomes independent there is no provision for a Scottish independent BBC so in its DNA it’s a product of this polity.’
And also:
Mason went on to hint that the corporation is not diverse enough, with its more senior staff often belonging to the same social set:
‘I have this theory about the BBC, that what most people don’t like about it is to do with the social group from which its managers and senior people are recruited.’
But then again Paul Mason, like Alex Salmond, is pretty thin skinned and prepared to use ‘violent’ language to close down debate…here denouncing a commenter who criticises his beloved Syriza as a ‘Nazi collaborator:
Covering the Greece crisis appears to be beginning to take its toll on Paul Mason. Channel 4′s economics editor became embroiled in a bizarre Twitter rant last night during which he accused an anonymous blogger of being a ‘Nazi supporter’ over their criticism of the Syriza government.
Perhaps Mason’s anti-BBC stand is influenced by the lack of support he seems to get from his ex-BBC colleagues:
However, not everyone is convinced by the explanation. Newsnight‘s policy editor Chris Cook has been quick to claim that @GreekAnalyst is not a troll:
And of course his latest ramblings about the future of Capitalism got panned by the BBC Trust’s Diane Coyle when she asked ‘Is that it?’ as she realised there was a lot of hot air and not a lot of substance to Mason’s towering economic edifice.
Maybe Mason should apply for the job…seems like a win win for him and his new pal north of the border:
LEADING BBC Scotland’s newsroom is one of the most exciting and challenging jobs in the BBC.
Based in centres across Scotland, the department provides local, national and international news on radio, television and online for audiences in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.
It provides in depth coverage of Scotland’s business and politics and makes stand-out current affairs and investigations programmes for the nation and the network.
Oh, hang on…could be a difficulty:
You will be able to gain respect at all levels due to your credibility, integrity and professionalism.
You will be a natural strategic thinker, with the ability to plan and evaluate people and editorial decisions in the short, medium and long-term, alongside the day-to-day needs of leading a fast-paced news agenda.
You will have strong editorial judgement and an unwavering focus on impartiality.
Nick Robinson 
