As Winter 2019/20 didn’t really bite that much, there was nevertheless widespread chaos across three NHS regions. Strikes by nurses and ‘winter pressures’ caused mass cancellations and abysmal A&E statistics in Northern Ireland and Wales. In England, despite attempts to conceal the awful truth, A&E performance was at ‘third-world’ level in some areas. On average, only 68% were seen in A&E within 4 hours compared to 81% in Scotland. Operation cancellations due to non-clinical reasons in Scotland increased from 2 to 2.4% in Scotland while ALL operations were cancelled in parts of Wales. Yet none of the BBC reports from these areas gave space to opposition politicians to exploit human suffering by blaming government.
Only BBC Scotland, allowed this kind of thing:
Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said: “It is utterly unacceptable that almost 1,000 people waited in A&E for over 12 hours last month, most likely in fear and pain. “Hospital staff are clearly unable to cope and the result on morale is devastating.”
It’s worth noting that these 987 patients represent only 0.7% of the 141 868 who attended. To my mind it’s utterly unacceptable that such rants are reported. Is there any evidence of an empirical nature of significant increases in patients in fear and pain or of staff with devastated morale levels? No, there isn’t.
BBC Scotland News is in coalition with the opposition parties to weaken the SNP government by any means, no matter how slimy.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The bad thing?
BBC Scotland meets none of the criteria of ethical journalism.
!.-Truth and accuracy.
2.-Independence. Journalists must be independent voices, and should not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests.
3.-Fairness and impartiality. Stories should be balanced (both sides) and add context.
4.-Humanity. Journalists should do “no harm”.
5.-Accountability. When errors occur, they should be corrected and expressions of regret should be sincere.
The Good Thing?
When Scotland becomes self-governing, the BBC will be gone will all their baggage, present staff and rotten prejudices.
We will be able to start with a clean sheet, not something to be sneered at, or afforded to many.
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I do not mean to be cynical, but are there any mainstream media – print and broadcasting – journalists, whom you can name whose work consistently meets these criteria?
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None, consistently. But there should be an aspiration to meet the best standards attainable.
Journalism is a declining “trade” so we cannot overly criticize the few journalists left, for obedience to their Editors.
But BBC Scotland is rank bad.
The example of Radio Scotland, when launched. Operating on a tiny budget, it gave top notch reportage, analysis and was willing to get in the faces of senior politico’s.
Look at the dire state of Radio Scotland now—it has got rid of actual journalists. It mainly reports agency/BBC London oriented news; has very little Scottish content; does no analysis or report in depth; is heavily slanted in its politics; its guests/contributors/experts are always from outside Scotland. The BBC is obligated to source apprentices from the “local” area. Yet every new member of the Radio Scotland seems to culturally non-Scottish.
It is in fact, no longer a Scottish radio station, but a North British one. It would be interesting to know their audience figures.
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