The BBC are in serious danger of losing their political credibility in Scotland. After what I would describe as a “patchy at best” reporting of the referendum resulting in protests, boycotts and a general feeling of unfairness in Scotland, their latest stunt has not won them any favours.
But it’s not just them, the other broadcasters are at it too abjectly failing, again, to recognise the new political reality of the UK.
On Monday the network broadcasting organisations announced they are to hold a series of three general election debates that exclude the SNP.
The BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 plan to hold three debates with David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage. And the other debates would be head-to-heads.
Now the broadcasters reliably inform us that the announcement follows months of detailed negotiations over the format for debates and reflects “changes in the political landscape”.
As a consequence, most of the political parties have reacted against the proposal with Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, branding the broadcasters’ proposal as “utterly unacceptable” and saying the BBC and others had failed in their duty to viewers in Scotland.
The Tories, Lib Dems, SNP, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru have all criticised the proposals, leaving only Ed Miliband appearing relaxed on the matter. Perhaps he is just glad to get the airtime.
The fact is the broadcasters don’t have a leg to stand on by saying that their proposed format factors in “changes in the political landscape” to justify the inclusion of UKIP. They are entirely ignoring the fact that the SNP are now, by far, the third largest political party in the UK.
Even David Cameron raised objections about the Greens not being included. But he contradicted himself by saying that he could not “see how you can have one party in it that has an MP in Parliament and not another party” that also has one MP. Whilst he was rightly referring to the absence of the Greens, he can’t really say that and be happy to exclude parties with several MPs such as the SNP or Plaid Cymru.
And I just don’t get the logic behind the BBC’s obsession with UKIP other than the fact they make a good story due to the gaffes (mostly surrounding issues of racism) and policy yo-yos. As it stands they are a minority party and barely visible in Scotland, much like their Scottish MEP David Cockburn.
Whenever you turn on the BBC you see Farage and friends. This week it was a BBC documentary, The Farage Factor. I can’t remember the last time the BBC did a documentary on a current party leader, never mind one not even remotely close to becoming leader of a government.
You see, the main problem with the broadcasters, and in particular, the BBC’s position on these debates, is that they previously justified the exclusion of the other parties, including the SNP, on the premise that the debates should only include whoever is a candidate for Prime Minister.
Given Nigel Farage is not a candidate the network broadcasters have no basis to exclude parties such as the SNP which have a far greater foothold in politics than UKIP.
In the Swedish election earlier this month, a country renowned for its fairness and equality, the televised debates featured all eight of its party leaders aired on Swedish Television, the public service broadcaster.
I see absolutely no reason why the BBC can’t do the same thing. Not to mention it would make great TV.
In the last Canadian election televised debates of 2011 they included Bloc Qubcois leader Gilles Duceppe. So while the Bloc Qubcois, like the SNP, was not fielding candidates across the whole the country it was included as it is a large mainstream party with substantial political representation.
Scotland is poorly served by the establishment, whether that’s at Westminster or organisations such as the BBC.
Excluding a Scottish voice from UK debate, particularly when the SNP may hold the balance of power next year in Westminster is a mistake. I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories that it is deliberate, I think it is just ignorance about Scottish politics and the balance (or imbalance) of power across the UK.
As a party that is regularly polling above the Lib Dems and excluded from the debates also, Green MP Caroline Lucas said: “broadcasters are not up to date with new political realities”.
And broadcasters shouldn’t squeeze out parties because it is inconvenient.
It’s not too late for the BBC to right the wrong on the matter. As the public service broadcaster they should be leading the way to represent our political times and reflect the new reality of our democracy and you never know, it may help them win back some trust in Scotland too.