There are both general and partisan reasons for setting up such a commission. On a partisan level, the BBC’s coverage of Scottish politics seems to be rather dismissive towards the SNP. BBC news editors are unlikely to consciously change coverage in reaction to this news – indeed, they’re more likely to see this as an affront. But, on some level, the establishment of the commission may cause editors to tread more carefully, and think twice about sloppy reporting of poll results.

On a more general level, levels of dissatisfaction with the BBC are higher in Scotland than in most other parts of the country. This satisfaction is probably rooted in the perception that the BBC is full of middle / upper class Southern Englanders who produce programmes for others like them. That is, it’s predominantly a cultural complaint.

That’s why the BBC’s response – which emphasises the new development at Pacific Quay – is rather uninspiring, answering cultural concerns with cost-benefit calculations.

We’ll know more when the full membership and terms of reference of the committee are announced. But the announcement is a lesson that minority governments can still crack the whip hand.

In Italy, the long-awaited AGM to decide the fate of the Treasury’s representative on Rai’s board will now be held on the 8th August. Expect the newspapers to feature much irritated reaction in the lack of any serious August news.

Still on newspapers, the Council of Ministers agreed to changes in the law on press subsidies. The aim, according to Ricardo Levi, is

“affronta nello specifico la situazione per un riordino e ha l’ambizione di dare organizzazione ad una materia che in 60 anni ha avuto solo interventi occasionali: si vuole dare per la prima volta un quadro organizzativo”.

“To get to grips with the situation with the aim of reordering and giving some structure to a subject that, in sixty years, has only had occasional interventions: we now need, for the first time, an organisational framework”.

No-one seems to have wondered whether the press is a fit field for “intervention” , or whether the government should end this scheme altogether. As discussed before, the consequences fit no subsidy justification I’ve heard of.

This is a very basic error. It will fuel the belief amongst the SNP that the BBC is institutionally biased against it. Whether the BBC’s immune system – the complaints process and regular meetings with party officers – will save it is unclear. The BBC has long been perceived badly by Scots A 1991 internal report on public perceptions of BBC bias had this to say:

“A minority focus on government/civil service/Establishment influence. They believe they understand how bias arises and do not feel threatened by it since knowledge is a form of control. Nevertheless, they are certainly not happy for it to exist. Those in our sample exhibiting these attitudes were young pro-government males and ‘radical’ Scots males: both perceived a right-wing bias in television news and current affairs”

This was followed by research conducted by MORI in the run-up to Charter renewal:

 Groups which are more satisfied than average are those who watch the BBC for half or more of their viewing time (83% satisfied), those aged 16-30 (80% satisfied), those living in Wales (81% satisfied) and those living in the South East (80% satisfied). Groups more likely to be dissatisfied with the BBC are those in the North East (17% dissatisfied) and Scotland (16% dissatisfied)

and

The groups least likely to feel the BBC takes account of their views are those living in Scotland (49% of these people) or Northern Ireland (45% of this group), young people of Asian origin (50%) and young black people (46%).

Faked television phone-ins didn’t bother me.

But misreporting scientific research really gets me…

More Axegrinder 21.07.06 | Press Gazette: “BBC director general Mark Thompson put his foot in it with a Labour MP during his appearance in Westminster last week. Thompson was being assailed by MP Mike Hall about a BBC programme called The Secret Policeman, which, in Hall’s words, used ‘criminal elements’ in its production.’If you’d care to write to me about it,’ Thompson told the whingeing MP.

Hall (steam shooting from his ears): ‘I did write to you! I had an extensive correspondence with you!’”