THE BBC has apparently forgotten who the First Minister of Scotland is. No surprise if you’ve noticed the near-blackout coverage of her American tour.
While BBC Scotland may have thought an interview with Murdo Fraser in Spain for a football match was important enough to merit extensive coverage, it appears not to have lent the same view to Nicola Sturgeon meeting top US officials.
Despite Scotland’s First Minister holding talks with American politicians such as speaker of the House of Representative Nancy Pelosi, the BBC felt Scots probably didn't need to know a great deal about it. Besides, there was a man on a swing which was of far more importance.
The Jouker can’t help but wonder if maybe the BBC just forgot who Sturgeon is? It appeared that way when the broadcaster labelled Conservative MP Laura Farris as "Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister of Scotland".
READ MORE: BBC's lack of Nicola Sturgeon US trip coverage a 'bad decision', ex-head of news says
It’s a simple enough mix-up, but it didn’t help that the Tory MP was arguing in favour of Priti Patel’s cruel and costly plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda.
Not only that, but the Newbury representative was arguing against one of Sturgeon's own MPs, Glasgow Central's Alison Thewliss.
Thewliss pointed out that the Home Office policy was neither fair, just or humane and is “destined to fail”.
It was a pleasure to meet with @SpeakerPelosi today in the US Capitol. Our discussion included Ukraine, the Northern Ireland protocol, women’s rights and Scotland’s future. Above all we celebrated and reinforced the long-standing relationship between 🇺🇸 and 🏴 pic.twitter.com/jFrhqzFev7
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) May 16, 2022
Even Farris seemed unsure of its long-term success, urging critics to wait six months to evaluate the plans. That may come as little help to the asylum seekers sent on a one-way ticket to a country they don't know.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon tells US media Scottish Government intends to hold indyref2 in 2023
After Farris’s speech, Politics Live did show a clip of Sturgeon’s speech while in America, two days after she made it as a prompt to argue the fallacy that joining Nato and being anti-nuclear weapons are mutually exclusive. Regardless, the clip could explain that strange blunder ...
Perhaps we should just be happy that someone at the BBC finally clocked on, days after most newspapers across the country extensively covered the FM's trip, that the leader of Scotland was on an official trip to America.
Although, maybe someone at Politics Live could let the good folk at BBC Scotland know too.
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