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Radio nan Gaidheal accused of “political basis”     22/2/12

Western Isles councillor Donald John MacSween has called for an inquiry by the BBC into “reporting standards” and alleged “political bias” at BBC Radio nan Gaihdeal.

Mr MacSween, who stood as Labour candidate in the last General Election, said that “a long-running sore” had been brought to the surface by BBC Radio nan Gaidheal’s reporting of the controversy over ferry fare increases for commercial vehicles.

According to Mr Macsween: “On BBC Radio nan Gaidheal this morning (Wed), it was stated as fact by a BBC presenter that “the Labour Party had campaigned against RET.” This is a bare-faced untruth taken straight from an SNP press release.

“It is inconceivable that such propaganda would be broadcast as fact in an English-language broadcast, or indeed in any language other than Gaelic.  I believe that the Gaelic community is as entitled to impartial, professionally competent reporting as any other.”

Mr MacSween said he had asked the controller of BBC Scotland, Kenneth McQuarrie, to monitor the BBC Radio nan Gaidheal output in order to determine whether appropriate reporting standards were maintained and if there was ongoing evidence of political bias.

He said:  “Sadly in my experience, there is no point complaining to Inverness because any complaints are simply brushed aside. My concern is that Radio nan Gaidheal is out of sight, out of mind and the normal standards of political impartiality, are not being applied.”

On the ferries issue, Mr MacSween said that the truth was that the money used for the so-called “RET experiment” had been committed by the outgoing Labour-led administration in 2007 for use across the entire CalMac network.

“Nobody campaigned against RET, as far as I am aware. However what is now clear is that it was never RET – because if that principle had genuinely been introduced, we would not be having the current uproar about fare increases.”

The BBC strongly refuted Mr Macsween’s allegations.

A BBC Scotland spokesman said: “We reject the criticism relating to the Radio nan Gaidheal report on Wednesday. The report clearly attributed to an MSP the claim that the Labour Party were against the government RET scheme.

“If Councillor MacSween can provide us with evidence of alleged bias in our news reporting, we will certainly look into the matter.

“However we reject entirely any suggestion that Radio nan Gaidheal is not subject to the same rigorous application of the BBC's guidelines on impartiality and accuracy of reporting as apply to all other BBC news services.”