COMPLAINTS to BBC Scotland soared nearly seven-fold over its coverage during the pandemic, new figures have revealed.
The broadcaster received 37,255 complaints during the year 2020-2021, compared to 5,474 the previous year. Overall, the complaints last year made up 8% of the total of 462,555 received by the BBC.
Levels so far this year have returned to “normal” at under two per cent. None of the complaints to BBC Scotland in 2020-21 that was escalated for further investigation was upheld.
The figures have been revealed in a letter from BBC Scotland director Steve Carson to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee which was published last week. It comes after he appeared before MPs in July to give evidence for its inquiry into public broadcasting in Scotland.
READ MORE: BBC flooded with complaints over bias in favour of England
He stated in the letter: “The spike in complaints in year 2020 – 2021 relates mainly to high levels of contact and audience interest in how the BBC was covering the coronavirus pandemic and associated briefings, but levels of contacts in this year were still proportionate to Scotland’s population.”
One of the biggest areas of controversy last year was coverage of the daily briefings by the Scottish Government on Covid.
The BBC faced criticism for not broadcasting the updates daily last September, before overturning the decision following an outcry from the SNP.
Concerns were also raised both about showing the briefing without offering a reply from opposition parties and for allowing opposition parties to respond without including an SNP or Scottish Government voice.
One discussion about the Alex Salmond affair during a daily pandemic update from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promoted nearly 250 complaints.
In March Ofcom dismissed concerns that the Scottish Government’s televised briefings on Covid were a platform for SNP views.
In his letter, Carson pointed to the BBC’s ‘corrections and clarifications’ pages as highlighting issues which have attracted “significant volumes” of contacts from audience members.
This is described as “generally more than 100 contacts over a short period of time.”
That list did not include any BBC Scotland issues, but there were examples relating to coverage of Scotland elsewhere on the BBC network.
For example, an exchange on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday 31 May 20201 about Covid rates in different parts of the UK was highlighted.
READ MORE: BBC dismiss complaints around Marr's 'bias against SNP and Nicola Sturgeon'
The BBC response noted: “We said that it was 26 per 100,000 people in Northern Ireland as compared with 46 per 100,000 in England and Wales, and 51 in Scotland.
“While data from the four nations are not directly comparable as methodologies and inclusion criteria vary, we should have used more up to date figures.
“The latest government figures for 30 May show that in fact the death rate from Covid-19 in Northern Ireland was 28 per 100,000 as compared with 58 per 100,000 in England and Wales, and 44 per 100,000 in Scotland.”
Another error was made in a report on Newsnight on April 2, 2020 in an item on how charities were coping with lockdown.
“We wrongly stated that private schools in Scotland would be losing their charitable status,” the BBC said.
“While the Non Domestic Rates (Scotland) Bill will affect their eligibility for charitable tax rates relief, the status as a charity will in fact remain unchanged.”
AN interview on BBC News at Ten on Friday 17, April 2020, in which there was a discussion about PPE guidance over wearing intensive care gowns, was highlighted for failing to mention it only related to England.
“The Scottish and Welsh governments had both indicated that they would not be making changes to their guidance because they had adequate stocks,” the BBC acknowledged.
A spokesman for BBC Scotland said: “The vast majority of the complaints in 2020-21 related to coverage of the pandemic and associated briefings, with some in the audience feeling there was too much coverage while others in the audience were concerned that levels of coverage were to be reduced.
“Complaints in the current year so far have returned to levels similar to previous years.”
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