Alex Salmond hits back at Nick Robinson and brands the BBC's Scottish referendum coverage 'a disgrace'
Alex Salmond has described the BBC's coverage of the Scottish independence referendum as a "disgrace".
The former first minister also ridiculed comments from ex-BBC political editor Nick Robinson comparing the backlash his Scottish referendum coverage prompted to that of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Robinson, whose referendum reporting sparked protests outside the BBC Scotland headquarters in Glasgow, condemned what he likened to press intimidation with staff having to “fight their way through crowds of protesters, frightened as to how they do their jobs”.
Salmond, now an SNP MP, told the Dundee Courier that Robinson should be “embarrassed and ashamed” of his coverage of the referendum.
He said: "The BBC’s coverage of the Scottish referendum was a disgrace. It can be shown to be so, as was Nick’s own reporting of which he should be both embarrassed and ashamed.
“To compare, as Nick did last week, 4,000 Scots peacefully protesting outside BBC Scotland as something akin to Putin’s Russia is as ludicrous as it is insulting.
“It is also heavily ironic given that the most commonly used comparison with the BBC London treatment of the Scottish referendum story was with Pravda, the propaganda news agency in the old Soviet Union.”
Salmond said he refused to comment on the issue until Robinson was "restored to health" following his lung tumour.