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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| BBC's Nick Robinson heats up row with SNP's Alex Salmond | BBC's Nick Robinson heats up row with SNP's Alex Salmond |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| The BBC’s outgoing political editor Nick Robinson has accused Alex Salmond, former leader of the Scottish National party, of trying to control the broadcaster, as the war of words over coverage of the independence debate escalates. | The BBC’s outgoing political editor Nick Robinson has accused Alex Salmond, former leader of the Scottish National party, of trying to control the broadcaster, as the war of words over coverage of the independence debate escalates. |
| Related: The BBC must resist Alex Salmond's attempt to control its coverage | Related: The BBC must resist Alex Salmond's attempt to control its coverage |
| In an article for the Guardian, Robinson takes issue with the politician’s view that the BBC is biased against the SNP and rejects criticism of his own reporting. “His assertion that [the BBC] is a broadcaster that dances to a tune written by the Whitehall and Westminster establishment is wrong,” he writes. | In an article for the Guardian, Robinson takes issue with the politician’s view that the BBC is biased against the SNP and rejects criticism of his own reporting. “His assertion that [the BBC] is a broadcaster that dances to a tune written by the Whitehall and Westminster establishment is wrong,” he writes. |
| The comment, which comes before an address by Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, to television executives at the Guardian Edinburgh international television festival on Thursday, is part of a row that dates back to last year’s referendum campaign. It has been reignited in the past week after Robinson described protests against the corporation at the time as “Putin-like” with journalists subject to “intimidation and bullying”. | The comment, which comes before an address by Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, to television executives at the Guardian Edinburgh international television festival on Thursday, is part of a row that dates back to last year’s referendum campaign. It has been reignited in the past week after Robinson described protests against the corporation at the time as “Putin-like” with journalists subject to “intimidation and bullying”. |
| Over the weekend Salmond, now a Westminster MP, described the BBC’s coverage of the Scottish independence referendum as a disgrace, accusing it of producing “Pravda-like” propaganda and saying that Robinson should be “embarrassed and ashamed” of his work. | Over the weekend Salmond, now a Westminster MP, described the BBC’s coverage of the Scottish independence referendum as a disgrace, accusing it of producing “Pravda-like” propaganda and saying that Robinson should be “embarrassed and ashamed” of his work. |
| The journalist, who is to take over as a presenter on Radio 4’s Today later this year, rejects the criticism. “Let’s leave aside how seriously we should take any comparison between the BBC’s high journalistic standards, which are recognised around the world, and Russian state broadcasting and focus on his serious underlying point. It is summed up in that word ‘control’,” he writes. | |
| He compares Salmond to other leaders, from Winston Churchill complaining about the BBC’s coverage of the general strike to Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair’s fury over its reporting of various foreign and domestic wars. “In the heat of battle, when their blood is up and they can see the white of their enemy’s eyes, they simply do not understand why the nation’s broadcaster doesn’t see the world exactly as they do,” he writes. | He compares Salmond to other leaders, from Winston Churchill complaining about the BBC’s coverage of the general strike to Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair’s fury over its reporting of various foreign and domestic wars. “In the heat of battle, when their blood is up and they can see the white of their enemy’s eyes, they simply do not understand why the nation’s broadcaster doesn’t see the world exactly as they do,” he writes. |
| Robinson used a recent appearance at the Edinburgh book festival to warn about “the dangers of replacing impartial – if sometimes imperfect – broadcast news with the ‘echo chamber’ of Twitter or a UK version of Fox News which allows people to read and hear only what they already agree with”. | |
| He said: “When you read or hear or watch them, perhaps on the BBC, remember this: politicians are just as entitled to complain and protest about our coverage as any other viewer and listener but when they dream of controlling what the BBC reports they should be resisted.” | He said: “When you read or hear or watch them, perhaps on the BBC, remember this: politicians are just as entitled to complain and protest about our coverage as any other viewer and listener but when they dream of controlling what the BBC reports they should be resisted.” |
| The journalist went on to warn that the issue of BBC independence and the future of public service broadcasting was too important to get caught in a political squabble and “matters much more than the former first minister and me locking antlers like ageing rutting stags about what happened a year ago”. | The journalist went on to warn that the issue of BBC independence and the future of public service broadcasting was too important to get caught in a political squabble and “matters much more than the former first minister and me locking antlers like ageing rutting stags about what happened a year ago”. |
| Describing the duty of BBC journalists to cover both sides impartially, Robinson repeated his regrets over a news report which suggested that Salmond had not answered one of his questions “when I meant to say that he’d tried to avoid answering it”. | Describing the duty of BBC journalists to cover both sides impartially, Robinson repeated his regrets over a news report which suggested that Salmond had not answered one of his questions “when I meant to say that he’d tried to avoid answering it”. |
| Just as many complaints about BBC coverage of the Scottish referendum came from the no side as the yes campaign, he added. | Just as many complaints about BBC coverage of the Scottish referendum came from the no side as the yes campaign, he added. |