Welcome to this week's Media Watch!
Typically, this newsletter goes pretty hard on mainstream media when it comes to coverage of Scotland and Scottish issues.
However, today I’m going to launch a bit of a defence of the BBC after it faced criticism from English viewers about the amount of airtime given to Scotland’s victory over Denmark last week, which sent Scotland to their first World Cup in almost 30 years.
The BBC’s Newswatch programme on Saturday featured a segment on England fans taking issue with the fact the win was covered as the top item on the News at Ten immediately after the victory and the next morning.
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Viewer Gill Trbovic complained: “People have been killed, there are wars going on in the world, and we feel we need to highlight football as the number one item."
It’s a completely valid point that there is more serious news out there, and we all agree at The National that what is going on in Gaza, for example, needs more coverage and better coverage that holds Israel to account for the genocide being committed.
However, there are a few arguments that can be made for why having it as a top news item is justified.
First of all – speaking as an England fan primarily – all significant England victories, particularly those that happen immediately before the News at Ten, get the same level of attention. I’m sure Scottish viewers would argue that they have to endure news about England achievements much more often and it usually has no relevance to them.
The way things should work on the BBC is that each of the UK nations gets the same level of coverage, so for it me it was pleasing to see the BBC making a big deal of the Scotland victory. People all around the world – and in England – realised the significance of this win and I think most would entirely understand it being top news for a brief period.
The second point is that Scotland’s qualification for the World Cup was about so much more than just football. The national team means a great deal to Scottish people. Fans who are normally split between rival clubs were all able to celebrate something truly historic together.
If some of these English fans complaining had witnessed the huge mood boost that was given to the entire country the following morning after the game, I don’t think they’d begrudge the match getting 10 minutes of coverage on the News at Ten. When many people are finding life tough, there is an ongoing cost-of-living crisis with energy bills soaring, these rare moments of shared joy are crucial for people’s wellbeing and we should celebrate and treasure them.
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We all complain there is not enough good news celebrated anymore, and the only news that sells papers and gets clicks is bad stuff.
Frankly, this was about the happiest I’ve ever seen Scots as a collective. My colleagues who don’t even follow football loved every moment of that victory and for me, as a massive sports fan, that was really special to see.
Sport has a power to lift and inspire like nothing else on earth, and I think you will see the lasting effect Scotland being on the world stage like this will have on its people.
So to give the BBC credit where it is due, it is absolutely right this was highlighted as a top story. After all, who wouldn’t want to see that overhead kick from Scott McTominay just one more time?
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