By stewartb

The main Scotland page of the BBC News website today (Saturday 14 March) has a story with this headline: ‘Historic Borders bridge secures £250,000 for restoration project’. It’s been ‘elevated’ from the South of Scotland local news page and reports on the awarding of a National Lottery Fund grant.

The Scottish Government issued a press statement on Friday 13 March with the heading: ‘Driving growth on Scotland’s islands – Funding to create jobs and strengthen local economies.’ This is not reported on the main Scotland page of the BBC News website. Indeed it doesn’t even figure in the local Highlands & Islands section of the BBC News site.

How do these two items compare in terms of national and local newsworthiness?

The government statement reports: ‘Island communities will benefit from a £5.75 million boost to support critical infrastructure, tackle rising costs and accelerate the transition to net zero. The new investment aims to address pressures including depopulation and rising fuel costs which disproportionately affect island communities.

It includes: ‘£3 million through the Islands Programme, building on previous investments which have delivered critical infrastructure projects ranging from affordable homes on Shetland to upgraded airfield terminal buildings on Eday and Westray’.

‘£1 million for the continuation of the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund to help communities tackle increasing costs, distributed through the six island local authorities.

‘£750,000 to support net zero projects as part of the Carbon Neutral Islands programme, with past initiatives including decarbonisation of community spaces in Barra and Vatersay, developing a solar farm on Islay and transport decarbonisation on Hoy.’

‘£1 million to support a range of projects connected to commitments made in the Scottish Government’s new National Islands Plan, including an island scholarship pilot scheme, mental health support for young people and training courses in sustainable tourism.’

In terms of newsworthiness, the two items have obviously been judged very differently in terms of both national and local relevance by BBC Scotland’s news team. It will have received the Scottish Government’s press release by e-mail just as it does every working day around 4pm. The Lottery funding of the bridge restoration is clearly the more significant – especially in the run up to an election?

For context, the Scottish Government’s Islands Programme was established in 2021-22: it has already made 88 grant awards, totalling £19.7 million. I wonder how many were deemed newsworthy by BBC Scotland. Anyone?