“The BBC must resist any hybrid options with a parallel studio and co-presenter in London for non-Scottish stories. As the committee concluded, this would be both needlessly extravagant, and patronising.”
Nicolson – a former BBC presenter – said that too often, network news programmes broadcast from London covered purely English stories, such as those on health, justice or education, which did not reflect or report the different situation in the devolved countries.
“The BBC has already acknowledged that there is dissatisfaction with this situation,” he said.
“The committee firmly believes that it is perfectly reasonable for editorial decisions on the running order for television news broadcasts in Scotland to be made in Scotland, drawing on all of the BBC’s resources at home and abroad, and broadcast from Scotland.
“This has happened very successfully on BBC Radio Scotland for years on programmes like Good Morning Scotland and Newsdrive.
“I believe that a broader remit for BBC Scotland television news would drive up standards, increase job opportunities for journalists here in Scotland, and build audiences."
The committee also expressed concerns over the way in which the BBC chairwoman, Rona Fairhead, was reappointed without a recruitment process.
Nicolson said: “The chairman should have been recruited not as a result of a cosy conversation in Downing Street, but through an open and orderly public competition, as is standard in the public sector and as the government has proposed for other members of the board.”
A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, said: “The BBC produces world-class programming that is admired and respected by millions around the world.
“The BBC’s next Charter will help it adapt to the changing digital world and continue to thrive into the future.
“The committee’s report is a welcome contribution to the debate.”
Watch James Robertson telling his 365-word story on "The News Where You Are"
Top BBC stars ‘should be forced to publish their salaries’
BBC stars who earn more than the Prime Minister should be forced to publish their salaries, an influential group of MPs has said.
The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee said there was “no good reason” for performers, presenters and executives to hide their pay if they earned more than the PM.
Acting committee chairman Damian Collins said it was “disingenuous” for the BBC to claim it needed to maintain confidentiality to prevent talent poaching by rival channels.
He also said there was no reason why the government’s plans for a new royal charter set the threshold for talent at £450,000, higher than that for executives.
Publishing a report on the proposals set out in the government’s BBC White Paper, Collins said: “On the question of pay, the point is that all these salaries are paid by the licence fee payer, whether they are for broadcasters or BBC executives. Why should there be different rules for each?
"It’s disingenuous to say confidentiality is needed to prevent poaching when in general everyone in the industry knows what everyone else is getting paid. The threshold should be the same for both executives and talent, [and] the salary of anyone getting paid more than the Prime Minister should be published.”
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