The row over the BBC’s censoring of pro-independence channels on YouTube took another twist yesterday when the corporation’s headquarters appeared to confirm to Alex Salmond that BBC Scotland was not consulted over the decision to act against Wings over Scotland and Peter Curran.
With complaints mounting, the BBC has now started to review the policy that led to the take-down of Wings and Curran.
In a letter to the former first minister, BBC company secretary Phil Harrold said the take-down action was taken “centrally” and that it was “not possible” to investigate at “divisional level.”
READ MORE: WATCH: Alex Salmond's video diary on BBC's YouTube censorship of Wings
He wrote: “The BBC’s brand enforcement team deals with copyright infringement reports including on YouTube...their procedure for dealing with copyright infringement complaints (which is now being reviewed) is based on a purely legal/rights assessment.
“Having established that the relevant channels were infringing BBC rights, reports were filed through the YouTube procedure. This process is carried out centrally, as the BBC receives and processes a number of brand enforcement complaints from across the world (due to the global reach of social media platforms like YouTube) each day and, under the previous policy, it was simply not possible to investigate each at a divisional level beyond an assessment of the legal/rights position.”
In what could be a suggestion that BBC Scotland will be consulted in future, Harrold added: “With regard to political content in particular, we are now reviewing that policy.”
Salmond has replied to Harrold on this point saying: “I asked for a straight answer on whether BBC Scotland had been consulted at any level before your initiated action against these channels. You reply in your letter that “this process is carried out centrally”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, can I take it that this means that the answer to my question is that no-one in BBC Scotland was consulted prior to the decision? Please now confirm, that my understanding is correct.”
Salmond has also tackled the BBC on the issue of who made the complaint against the pro-indy channels in the first place – Edinburgh Labour councillor Scott Arthur had strongly denied being the complainant.
Harrold confirmed this, writing: “Professor Arthur did not make a complaint or suggest particular action should be taken against these channels, but having been alerted to their use of our content we acted as per our policy (which is now being reviewed).”
READ MORE: BBC drop copyright complaint on Peter Curran's pro-independence YouTube channel
“The distinction between Mr Arthur and Wings Over Scotland/Peter Curran is simply that Mr Arthur is an elected official, the others were not – BBC Legal followed its normal policy in each case. This policy is now under review. However, at no stage during this process were the political views expressed on those channels considered; the decision was taken at a purely legal/rights level.”
Salmond has challenged this line, saying: “On the one hand you say that Cllr Arthur did not complain about these sites but elsewhere in your letter (in explaining your previous policy) you say that the BBC “can only investigate and take action where it receives a complaint identifying the infringing content specifically”. So was there a complaint or not which resulted in action against the pro-indy channels? He adds: “There is widespread scepticism in Scotland about the BBC’s claim of impartiality on the question of Scottish independence.”
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