Creative Scotland chief calls for BBC to ‘work’ on SNP relationship
Incoming Creative Scotland chief Richard Findlay has called on the BBC to build bridges with the SNP after relations between the two organisations deteriorated during the fractious debate over Scottish independence.
The chairman of the Scottish government funded body and former STV editor said that the public service broadcaster needed to improve its relationship with the Scottish government by reviewing its actions and cutting bureaucracy.
Findlay said: “Politicians are always sensitive about the media and the fact is the BBC can’t be in thrall to any particular political organisation. There is always a difficult line to walk; we certainly walked it at STV. The BBC could look at itself a little more carefully sometimes. Sometimes it does get tied up in its own bureaucracy.
“The relationship between the BBC and the Scottish government needs to improve. The BBC needs to work on that too, not just the Scottish government.”
Relations between the media organisation and militant Yes campaigners deteriorated sharply as campaigning drew to a close with BBC Scotland’s headquarters being picketed by independence campaigners amidst calls for its political editor Nick Robinson to be sacked – after SNP politicians accused him of heckling Alex Salmond at a press conference.
This followed an episode in which Salmond questioned the neutrality of veteran BBC presenter Andrew Marr, after he asserted that an independent Scotland would find it ‘quite hard’ to rejoin the EU.