Political Reporting in Scotland

June 2017

“Perfect balance or perfect impartiality is not attainable. Fairness requires only the continuing application of reflective and consistent methods to maximise the levels, within single broadcasts and over longer periods” (Robertson, 2014). Impartiality can be described as fair, just and not biased. Balanced can be defined as a state in which different things have an equal or proper amount of importance. Balanced and impartial reporting is critical when news companies speak about politics as there should not be bias towards a party and should report on each main political party with an equal amount of importance. One of the main reasons for the public to consume news media is “Informational/Surveillance: finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surrounding, society, and the world; seeking advice on practical matters, or opinion and decision choices; satisfying curiosity and general interest; learning, self-education” (Diakopoulos, 2011)). The media has an obligation to be as objective as possible to avoid influencing people’s political choices. The BBC’s editorial guidelines states, “impartiality lies at the heart of public service and is the core of the BBC’s commitment to its audiences…. We must be inclusive, considering the broad perspective and ensuring the existence of a range of views is appropriately reflected.” This is like other TV news channels’ guidelines such as STV and should be adhered to in all aspects of the media especially political reporting. The intention of this report is to discuss to what extent TV political reporting in Scotland has fulfilled its obligations to be balanced and impartial in the years since 2014. It will consist of discussions regarding the Scottish Referendum, Brexit and the 2016 political campaign in Scotland.

On the 18th of September 2014, a referendum of Scottish independence took place. The question of whether Scotland should be independent was answered by the Scottish public. The No campaign won by 55.3% compared to 44.7% voting in favour. Obviously, this topic was heavily reported on in Scotland by the BBC and STV. However, did STV and the BBC fulfil its obligations to be impartial when reporting on the referendum?

Dr John Robertson from the University of West Scotland published research on bias and fairness in news reporting on the issue of the Scottish Referendum. A media content analysis of the presence of types of political message contained within broadcasts was published which covered the period from 17th September 2012 to 18th September 2013. This included every weekday evening (6-7pm) broadcast by BBC 1, Reporting Scotland, ITV and STV, as well as shorter weekend broadcasts in that period. The table below indicates the amount of pro-independence statements made compared to anti-independence statements as well as other types of political messages reported.

These results show that both the BBC and STV’s reporting before the referendum took place were consistently biased and impartial, reporting in favour of the anti-independence campaign. Although, the BBC’s guidelines state, “Impartiality lies at the heart of public service...” these results suggest they weren’t adhering to this statement as a public service broadcaster.

The results shown below are the results of a similar analysis conducted by Dr Robertson covering the types of political messages produced by the same news channels in February 2014 alone, following many media outlets acknowledging the previous results. The BBC dismissed the previous results.

The numerical preponderance of anti-independence statements over pro-independence statements is almost 1:1. It could be said that this was due to Robertson’s previous research showing a ratio of 3:2 in favour of anti-independence statements in BBC and STV reporting between 2012 and 2013. These results also show the amount of coverage on the referendum on BBC 1 and ITV increased as well as both being marked by an imbalance between the statements favouring the Yes campaign and those in favour of the NO campaign of approaching 2:1. This shows much more bias reporting on the UK wide programmes compared to the circa 3:2 overall ratio in the results in year 1.

It could be argued that these results are unreliable as the BBC argued, however, an important factor is Dr John Robertson is not in an ideological position as it’s hard to link him to a political position. He also stated in his research that the researchers involved would be as objective as possible.

There are also other sources who believe the reporting on the referendum was bias, such as actor Peter Mullan who criticised the BBC for “horrendous bias” in its news reporting. He also said “…to see the BBC used as a political cudgel against a legitimate democratic movement – really broke my heart” (Mullan, 2015). Further disapproval of the BBC’s reporting of this topic comes from the Scottish public’s opinion. The overall approval rating for BBC news in Scotland was at “7.0 in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 referendum” (BBC Trust, Jackson, 2016). Although, this shows a level of mistrust among many members of the Scottish public due to negative perceptions following the referendum. Further attacks on the BBC came from Paul Mason, the former BBC Economist editor who states, “Not since Iraq have I seen BBC News working at propaganda strength like this” (Green, C. 2014).

There are people who conflict this view. Even Alex Salmond, the SNP leader at that time and the Yes campaign’s chief executive held back from attacking the BBC directly, until after the referendum when he stated BBC bias was a “significant factor” in deciding the independence debate. The BBC rejected the year 1 results and STV ignored it completely.

Dr Robertson also conducted an experiment covering how politics was reported between the 6th of January to the 26th of April 2015 by BBC Reporting Scotland and STV News. He surveyed 121 days in total. “Only clearly political material was covered and its content analysed. This meant items in broadcast reports, of politicians, policies, the economy, public services, the Scottish Government’s performance, or of the political parties” (Robertson, 2015). 242 broadcast reports were analysed to identify common themes emerging. Robertson’s results only show two categories of political reporting, which are extreme language use and misuse of research reports to support political assertions. The results are shown below:

These results portray less bias reporting by STV. However, the BBC seem to be impartial with regards to misuse of research reports which could demonise the Scottish government, as well the use of extreme language. Evidence of this comes from a report by the BBC on 21st of January 2015, in which their use of language goes beyond the evidence to generate propaganda. Labour MSP, Jackie Baillie describes this situation as “extraordinary and deeply embarrassing for SNP Finance Minister, John Swinney” and suggests dramatically, that, “he (Swinney) is aligning himself increasingly with the Conservatives.” The reporter then repeats, the ‘opposition’ charge of ‘a humiliating U-turn’. This is missed by STV who make no reference to the apparent story. Although these results are vague, it’s still effective evidence that the BBC are consistently bias and unbalanced when reporting on Scottish politics and Dr John Robertson has proven that many times.

With regards to the 2016 political campaign, Dr Robertson conducted further research from January 8th to April 27th 2016. The cumulative data showed heavy bias by BBC Scotland, from January 8th right up until 7 days before the election.

There is clear evidence, on BBC Reporting Scotland, of general negative points with regards to the Scottish government, the economy, health and social services. Reporting Scotland reported negatively on one of those topics, on average, more than once every weekday evening over 75 week-days in 15 weeks. However, STV made only one negative point on one of those topics every four nights approximately. Reports in favour of the Scottish government were almost twice as frequent on STV. Evidence shows that STV reported negatively on the Labour Party in Scotland, however, the BBC reported positively on Labour. Specifically, Reporting Scotland avoided connecting the Edinburgh PFI Schools Closures Scandal to the Labour Party, during the run up to the election date.

There’s a significant amount of clear evidence that portrays the BBC consistently reported in a bias and unbalanced manner in all aspects of politics in Scotland such as the Referendum, political campaigns and elections. This evidence shows that the BBC has not fulfilled its obligations to report politics impartially. It is clear the main news channels in Scotland do not fulfil these obligations as not every political party in Scotland receives the same amount of air time. The evidence shows the two parties that are mostly spoken about is Labour and SNP. It could be argued that since the main political parties are more popular, then perhaps they should receive more air time, due to heavy interest in them. However, this makes it increasingly difficult for lesser known parties to be heard. The media is extremely powerful politically. “Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state” (Chomsky, 2002). Although, it could be argued that TV news channels no longer have an obligation to be impartial due to the wide range of channels the viewer can choose from, perhaps this obligation isn’t relevant in modern mass media. It might be possible for the public to hear journalistic opinions and make up their own mind if they agree or not. Scottish TV news has not fulfilled its obligations to be unbiased and fair. The amount of evidence showing the BBC has been biased and unbalanced on more than one occasion proves this. Although, there’s less evidence against STV, it still illustrates a certain level of bias reporting. Although these obligations are perhaps outdated, the bias reporting by the BBC has been more manipulative than opinionated, so there’s still several changes that should be made to avoid propaganda manipulation.

Bibliography

Robertson, P. (2014). Good Morning Scotland? Fairness in Reporting the Scottish Referendum. newsnetscotland.com, [online] p.5. Available at: https://issuu.com/creative_futur/docs/robertson2014goodmorningscotland [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016].

the Guardian. (2015). Peter Mullan: BBC showed 'horrendous bias' in Scottish referendum coverage. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/02/peter-mullan-bbc-referendum-harry-potter [Accessed 25 Nov. 2016].

Jackson, J. (2016). Scottish viewers still concerned about BBC news impartiality, research finds. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/18/scottish-viewers-bbc-news-impartiality-independence-referendum [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016].

Green, C. (2014). Scottish independence: BBC Scotland's referendum coverage. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/bbc-scotland-protests-scottish-independence-referendum-coverage-institutionally-biased-salmond-9732095.html [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

Robertson, D. (2015). Propaganda or professionalism on Pacific Quay? [online] openDemocracy. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourbeeb/john-robertson/propaganda-or-professionalism-on-pacific-quay [Accessed 1 Dec. 2016].

Chomsky, N. and Chomsky, N. (2002). Media control. 1st ed. New York: Seven Stories Press, p.16. Available at: https://archive.org/stream/media_Noam_Chomsky-Media_Control/Noam_Chomsky-Media_Control#page/n15/mode/2up/search/totalitarian+state

Diakopoulos, N. (2011). Nick Diakopoulos » What a News Consumer Wants. [online] Nickdiakopoulos.com. Available at: http://www.nickdiakopoulos.com/2011/12/02/what-a-news-consumer-wants-modeling-users/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016].