From stewartb

I see that BBC Scotland has made another of its major contributions to the BBC News website, this time courtesy of the Unionist patriots at These Islands. Appearing on the main Scotland page of the website and with top billing on the Scotland Politics page (viewed at 1500hrs, 13 November), there is the headline: ‘Ministers downgrade Scottish offshore energy projection’.

It seems that BBC Scotland rated this story highly for potential damage to the Scottish Government: this must be the justification for running with it so prominently as the substantive content is not new. Other indications of status include it meriting a considered ‘Analysis’ by BBC Scotland’s Political Correspondent and being opened up for public comment, always a sign of BBC Scotland’s ‘anticipation’.

From the ‘Analysis’, on this topic of renewable energy forecasts, we’re told: ‘.. AROUND A YEAR AGO THAT MINISTERS CONCEDED that figure was “out of date”. There were pledges to come up with a new number. That now APPEARS to have happened.’ (My emphasis) Note the slippery use of ‘appears’ despite the same journalist stating elsewhere in his piece that the relevant revision has indeed been made and formally communicated.

Secondly, we’re told: ’Though IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY TO MISS. In fact, it appears to have gone unnoticed for weeks. It was DEEP WITHIN A TRANCHE OF STATISTICS SENT to a Holyrood Committee.’ This ‘easy to miss’ communication is described in full below: one almost feels embarrassed for the journalist who felt it appropriate to frame this in this way!

Thirdly, the BBC ‘Analysis’ cannot even sustain a negative claim, acknowledging: ’This DOES INDEED QUALIFY AS UPDATING PARLIAMENT, which is what ministers had promised to do. Though many MSPs will think it would have been more appropriate to clearly publicise the new figure.’

And finally, we get the amplification of outrage: ’Scottish Conservative MSP Liam Kerr said: “Ministers must be open and honest about giving accurate figures – secrecy and cover-up does the renewables sector no favours” – and more in a similar vein.

The intent behind the framing of the BBC Scotland article and especially of the ‘Analysis’ section seems clear: it is to imply that the Scottish Government sneaked out this revised statistic and but for the good guys of These Islands, Parliament and the public would have missed it and been none the wiser. And the Tory opposition are justly outraged at this underhand practice.

Let’s examine the facts. Held in the online archive of the Scottish Parliament, and easily found, is this entry: ‘UPDATE ON SCOTLAND’S RENEWABLES AND WIND POWER POTENTIAL – Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, 21 September 2023.

The title seems self-explanatory and explicit, yes? Then there is a copy of the actual letter on file:

‘To Edward Mountain MSP
Convener
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee netzero.committee@parliament.scot

Dear Edward,
Update on Scotland’s renewables and wind power potential’

Again, the LETTER HEADING COULD HARDLY BE MORE CLEAR REGARDING SUBJECT AND PURPOSE. And of course this Convenor is a Tory! Did he and his staff never read the clearly labelled letter or read it and moved on to more pressing matters until These Islands aided by BBC Scotland saw an opportunity … for something? The BBC Scotland take on this is, you will recall: ‘Though it would have been easy to miss. In fact, it appears to have gone unnoticed for weeks.’ Is BBC Scotland having a dig at a Tory Convenor asleep at his post? Surely not!

Back to the letter whose text makes no attempt to hide or downplay significance: ‘The Scottish Government committed to revise a previously used statistic – that Scotland has 25% of Europe’s offshore wind and tidal potential. I write to update the Committee on the work that has been undertaken by the Scottish Government on this matter, and provide the Committee with revised metrics in relation to renewables and wind power potential in Scotland.

‘The annex to this letter provides additional detail on current and future potential wind generation in Scotland, comparisons with wider geographies, economic impacts, and real-life examples of what wind generation in Scotland could power.’

Presumably this is the document that the BBC Scotland journalist is referring to here: ‘There were pledges to come up with a new number. That now appears to have happened.’

And finally, recall this about the revised metric from the BBC Scotland ‘Analysis’: ‘It was DEEP WITHIN A TRANCHE OF STATISTICS SENT to a Holyrood Committee.’ I took the effort not only to read the letter but also the Annex with its deep tranche of statistics. I was ready for a deep dive into lots of data.

The annex is titled: ‘Summary Note – New Metrics on Renewables and Wind Power in Scotland’, so once again hardly disguising its content and purpose! It is LESS THAN TWO PAGES LONG! Yes, it’s worth repeating that given the BBC Scotland journalist’s description: the annex with its deep tranche of data is LESS THAN TWO PAGES LONG. And no spreadsheet, no data tables, no graphs, no pie charts – just text and less than two pages’ worth at that!

See https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-net-zero-energy-and-transport-committee/correspondence/2023/update-on-renewables-and-wind-power-potential

All in all, this is public service journalism as ‘contrivance’ – a ‘clever’ device created and exploited for a very particular purpose that candidly, is now all too plain!