Coronavirus in Scotland: BBC to screen TV reports in ‘coming weeks’

BBC Scotland will continue to show Nicola Sturgeon’s coronavirus briefings live on television in the “coming weeks”.

The promise came after criticism of the station’s announcement last week that televised coverage would be based on “editorial merit.”

Donalda MacKinnon, director of the BBC Scotland, said she had never intended to stop coverage.

He added that “other voices and perspectives” would now appear alongside FM briefings during the week.

In an email to staff, Ms MacKinnon explained: “We have now said that we will see the briefings in the round, which means that we will broadcast them live on television when we are in a pandemic period when there is public information that it is shared, such as the introduction and implementation of new measures, increased case rates, a review update every three weeks or other public information. “

The prime minister had said that it was up to the BBC to decide what to broadcast, but believed that its “ability to communicate directly with the public has never been more important.”

The possibility that not all briefings were covered live on BBC One Scotland and the BBC Scotland channel drew criticism from Donald Macaskill of Scottish Care, the body that represents independent nursing homes.

However, Scottish Conservatives claimed that Ms Sturgeon had at times used the daily briefings as a political platform to criticize the UK government.

‘News and opinions’

A spokesman for the corporation said that while significant progress continued to be made on the pandemic in Scotland, the BBC “over the next several weeks, and as we have done this week, will seek to cover Scottish government health reports live on television.”

In addition to continuous live television programming, there would be “significant” coverage of the informational meetings in television news bulletins, radio and online.

The spokesperson added: “As we said last week, such decisions will always be made based on editorial judgment and listening to our audience.

“We will always take full account of how the pandemic continues to evolve to inform that judgment.

“Our coverage of the coronavirus and public health issues in Scotland will continue to incorporate a variety of voices and perspectives, and this will be further enhanced as part of our continued coverage of Scottish Government briefings.

“This will allow us to bring news and opinions from across Scotland and beyond, involving politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as commentators, analysts and other experts.

“We remain committed to having this broad coverage of voices and perspectives in all of our media on television, radio and online.”