THE SNP Culture Secretary has raised a formal complaint with the BBC, alleging that the broadcaster has different standards for reporting on the Scottish and UK governments.
Angus Robertson penned a letter to outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie on Wednesday, following “misreporting” on the Scottish Government Budget the previous evening.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison had told MSPs that changes in the Budget meant that the majority of Scots – 55% – will pay less income tax than they would south of the Border.
However, Radio 4’s news bulletin wrongly said that the majority of Scots would in fact be paying “more tax than if they lived elsewhere in the UK”.
Robertson said the BBC had initially refused to correct the error, only agreeing to do so after he went public with his complaint. He further raised concerns that Wednesday morning’s Radio 4 news bulletins did not mention the Scottish Budget at all.
In his letter to Davie, the Culture Secretary said this would not have happened had the mistake been made about a UK Government Budget.
Robertson wrote: “Were this about a UK Government Budget, I contend that neither of these circumstances would have occurred: the mistake in the first place, the lack of correction during the programme, the subsequent unwillingness to make an on-air correction, and then the total absence of any reporting whatsoever.
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“This is a fundamental failure in BBC network radio coverage of a landmark annual devolution event, by commission and omission from its landmark evening and morning news programmes.
“I view this as such an unacceptable state of affairs, that I would like to seek a formal meeting with senior BBC news management to discuss further.”
Asked for a response, the BBC pointed to the correction read out on air. It said: "We would like to correct a mistake made in this news summary yesterday, where we said the Scottish Budget would mean more than half of workers will pay more tax than if they live elsewhere in the UK.
"The tax changes announced in Holyrood will actually lead 55% of workers in Scotland paying less tax compared to other parts of the UK. We apologise for this error."
The broadcaster has been asked if a separate response to Robertson's allegation of differing treatments for the UK and Scottish governments will be forthcoming.
It comes after The Sunday National reported that the BBC had been forced to issue more corrections for its Scottish output over the past three years than for BBC Wales, BBC Northern Ireland, and all the regional English BBC offices combined.
SNP MSP James Dornan said the figures were "bad news for the reputation of the BBC and political reportage in Scotland".
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