Â鶹Éç

Introduction

The Audience Councils are advisory bodies of the Â鶹Éç Trust, the governing body of the Â鶹Éç. There are four Audience Councils – for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Audience Councils have played an important role in providing the Trust with insight on the views, needs and interests of audiences in their respective nations, and on how well the Â鶹Éç is serving these audiences and delivering its public purposes.

The Councils have brought the views and perspectives of local audiences to bear on the work of the Trust in a number of ways:

• They have assessed how well the Â鶹Éç is performing for audiences in their nation,

most notably through an annual report to the Trust. These reports are published.

• They provide input into the Trust decision-making process, for instance in reviews of services or policies, or decisions about major changes to services.
• They identify emerging issues of importance to local audiences which inform the Trust’s annual workplan.

Audience Council members are appointed by the Â鶹Éç Trust, as independent volunteers from outside the Â鶹Éç. Each Council is chaired by the Trust member for the relevant nation.

The Councils remain in place until April 2017, when the Trust hands over its responsibilities to Ofcom and a new Â鶹Éç Board.

Bill Matthews, Â鶹Éç Trustee for Scotland

Foreword by Bill Matthews, National Trustee for Scotland

This final annual review from the Â鶹Éç Audience Council for Scotland reflects on a strong performance across many areas of Â鶹Éç output in Scotland. Personal highlights include the trial of a second Radio Scotland service, innovative use of social media during the 2016 Scottish Election coverage, and a strong offer of drama and comedy including a triumphant return of Still Game.

Much has changed since the Â鶹Éç Trust and Audience Council were created in 2007 - we didn't have iPlayer or Â鶹Éç Alba back then, and social media was in its infancy - and we could never have predicted the significant political events of the last ten years which have required all media outlets to reflect on the meaning of impartiality.

In the early years of the Trust, audience perception showed that Â鶹Éç Scotland programmes were sometimes seen as inferior in quality to those on the network. This view is now seldom heard. Â鶹Éç Scotland production values, in the view of Council members, now match or exceed those of the networks, despite continuous and significant pressure on budgets. In addition, the number of network TV programmes produced in Scotland has greatly increased, in response to an Audience Council priority first raised in 2007.

But there are also important areas where progress has been too slow.

Network TV production in Scotland is dependent on a London-based programme commissioning system and programmes made in Scotland are often not Scottish in character. To ensure better representation of Scotland, members believe it will be necessary to devolve real commissioning power to the UK’s devolved nations.

Provision of news for audiences in Scotland was debated throughout the Trust’s existence. One of its earliest actions was to commission a review of network news coverage of the UK nations by Professor Anthony King. Nearly ten years on, most Â鶹Éç network news items do now make clear the nation to which they apply, however latest research suggests a decline in the amount of news about Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on news programmes for UK audiences.

In February, the Â鶹Éç announced plans for a Scottish channel, with an integrated news programme edited in Scotland; more funding for network TV programmes made in Scotland, including drama; and a commitment to develop Radio Scotland into distinctive music and speech stations. The proposals are at an early stage – detailed work and approval processes by the Â鶹Éç unitary board and Ofcom lie ahead. But the Â鶹Éç enters a new Charter period and governance regime with an expanded vision for its services for audiences in Scotland.  

I warmly welcome the proposal for a nightly TV programme of Scottish, UK and international news edited and presented in Scotland. This should meet a long-standing audience need identified by the Council. However, members are disappointed that other long-standing issues around Scottish news have not been fully resolved within the lifetime of the Trust. For example, the proposal for a Scottish channel does not in itself address the issues of the volume or accuracy of network news for the devolved nations. I look forward to continued effort by the London-based news teams to put these right. I believe that the Â鶹Éç has been served well by the many voluntary, independent members of the Audience Council for Scotland - and I am immensely grateful for the diversity of views, intelligent debate and significant effort that they have contributed to the governance of the organisation. As we begin this new chapter of Â鶹Éç history I hope that the new Â鶹Éç board moves quickly to create a similar body capable of offering a strong but constructive voice for the audience at the heart of the Â鶹Éç. 

Audience Council for Scotland activities 2016/17

Before summer 2016, Council work was dominated by its input to Charter review and the Trust’s service review of the Â鶹Éç’s output made in and for the devolved nations. , the Council concluded that Â鶹Éç services for Scotland worked well, but that news provision should evolve to meet contemporary needs.

Over the year Â鶹Éç news explored options for the future provision of news for audiences in Scotland and the Council maintained a dialogue with the Executive on the topic throughout.

Representation of Scotland on the Â鶹Éç’s UK services was a theme of the last Charter period and members carried out an informal review of the portrayal of Scotland on the UK networks.

Members also advised Â鶹Éç news management on coverage of the EU referendum in June, and questioned the Executive about the implementation of the “Â鶹Éç Studios” proposal on the arrangements by which the Â鶹Éç produces content.

As the work of the Trust wound down towards the handover to a new dispensation, there was a corresponding decline in the workload of the ACS. Audience Councils remain in place until the closure of the Trust in April 2017 but the number of meetings was adjusted to match the level of necessary business.

Progress towards 2016/17 objectives

In its Annual Review 2015/16, the Council identified three audience priorities for the year ahead. This section reviews progress towards these to date.

Â鶹Éç Scotland should have the resources and the authority to commission network programmes of Scottish resonance to ensure that Scotland is properly represented in content on the Â鶹Éç networks

The Council believes that representation of Scotland on the Â鶹Éç networks is not as strong as it should be, and that this situation is a result of a deficit in the Â鶹Éç’s organisational structure. Audience data suggests a strong appetite among Scottish audiences for more Scottish material on the Â鶹Éç networks, especially drama. The issue was not addressed in Charter review because the Â鶹Éç’s organisational structure is an internal matter for the Â鶹Éç.

In the last Charter period the Â鶹Éç has increased the volume of network television production in Scotland from around 3 per cent to 8 per cent in 2015, something in the area of Scotland’s share of the UK population. However only a small proportion of this network programming has been of Scottish resonance, and audience desire for a broader and more representative range of Scottish content on the Â鶹Éç networks remains unmet.

The proposed Â鶹Éç Scotland channel and increased funding from autumn 2018 has the potential to improve representation both within and beyond Scotland. However members believe it will also require a change in the structure and framework of how the Â鶹Éç commissions. Although some new commissioning posts were created in Â鶹Éç Scotland in the past year, most final commissioning decisions remain at the Â鶹Éç centre. The Council believes that proportionate representation of Scotland will only be achieved when there are commissioners based in Scotland who have the authority and resources to commission a certain amount of network content.  gives the Â鶹Éç a Public Purpose to “reflect the diversity of the United Kingdom” and should “accurately and authentically represent and portray the lives of the people of the United Kingdom today, and raise awareness of the different cultures and alternative viewpoints that make up its society”.  provides for the setting out of performance indicators by Ofcom (in conjunction with the Â鶹Éç) and the Council suggests that targets for representation of Scotland on Â鶹Éç networks should be set and monitored.

The Â鶹Éç should review its approach to impartiality to reflect the increasing sophistication of contemporary audiences, and find imaginative ways of raising awareness among licence payers of the Â鶹Éç’s distinctive role in this area

The Council has noted audience concerns about Â鶹Éç impartiality since the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. In its Charter submission, members suggested that changes in the wider media landscape could be impacting on audience attitudes towards the Â鶹Éç: the growth of digital journalism from a wide variety of sometimes unverifiable sources may be encouraging greater scepticism towards journalism in general. The Council suggested it might be helpful if, in drawing up guidelines on impartiality, the Â鶹Éç was required to “have regard to general audience expectations of impartiality”. Members believe the Â鶹Éç should research audience understandings of the concept of impartiality, publish and consult on the results, and adjust the Â鶹Éç’s approach accordingly.

Members noted improvements in coverage of the General Election in 2015, and of the EU referendum where Â鶹Éç News consulted with Audience Councils and some new techniques (such as the Reality Check feature) were employed. Evidence from Council audience outreach has suggested that the level of concern about Â鶹Éç impartiality may have lessened over the last year.

However, members believe the Â鶹Éç should not be complacent about the issue, and that it is now more important than ever that Â鶹Éç journalism provides a real alternative to the agendas of the mainstream print media. This could include analysis of journalism on other media, including social media, with the aim of driving up standards of journalism generally in order to create the healthiest possible climate for civic debate. In an unregulated digital universe, there may be a need for Â鶹Éç journalism not only to report truthfully but also to challenge untruthful reporting by others.

Â鶹Éç journalism should evolve its news provision for Scotland to match contemporary realities and promote public understanding of the factors underlying key social, economic and political issues

There were a number of associated developments during the year. In its advice to the Trust, the ACS continued to stress what members see as an overall need for Â鶹Éç news to better reflect contemporary Scottish circumstances. The Â鶹Éç Executive conducted a further review of the options for how it should deliver news in Scotland. In August, the House of Commons Culture committee recommended that Â鶹Éç Scotland should “proceed with … a news programme anchored in Scotland, with a running order of Scottish, UK and international stories based on news merit”.

In November, the Trust of research into Â鶹Éç TV network news coverage of the devolved nations. The research looked at the level of coverage, and whether it was clear which part of the UK it was to which the stories applied. Coverage had risen since 2008 and nearly 80 per cent of stories were now accurately labelled. However the researchers concluded that coverage remained focussed on England, and specifically on Westminster, and that the stories about Scotland tended to focus on process rather than on policy.

Scope to address these issues is given in the new Â鶹Éç Charter, which puts an obligation on the Â鶹Éç “to build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom” offering “a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other providers”. This may be read as requiring Â鶹Éç news to exercise increased care to reflect “all parts” of the UK and to be correspondingly less London-centric, and to put greater emphasis on “range and depth of analysis”.

Adding integrated TV news for Scotland to the current offer will provide greater audience choice. 

However, the proposal does not address the problem that the news agenda of the Six, in which the interests of viewers in England must predominate, can risk confusion for viewers elsewhere, for example during the junior doctors’ dispute in England during the latter half of 2016. It is important that London-based news teams continue to focus on this issue.

The Council had suggested that the Â鶹Éç be required to provide news not only “from a UK perspective” but also “from the perspective of each UK nation, having regard to specific circumstances in each one”. In an increasingly devolved UK, the question of perspective becomes more important. Members are disappointed that it has taken so long for the Â鶹Éç to address this issue, and hopes it will continue to keep its news provision under review to ensure that it properly reflects the landscape of the devolved UK.

Performance of the Â鶹Éç in Scotland, April 2016 to date

Allowing for the migration of Â鶹Éç Three from a broadcast to an online format, overall Â鶹Éç reach in Scotland remained broadly stable during the first half of 2016/17, showing only a slight downwards trend. Exceptions were Â鶹Éç Alba and Â鶹Éç Four which both achieved modest year-on-year increases in September. Audience reach for all Â鶹Éç radio remained strong at 65 per cent across the UK and over 55 per cent in Scotland. All Â鶹Éç online reach continued to grow, achieving a record ‘people reach’ of around 53 per cent in June for the EU referendum. In its first months, the online Â鶹Éç Three has made progress towards its initial targets.

Network TV drama with a Scottish connection continued with One of Us, a crime drama set in the Highlands. This was well received by audiences north of the border and achieved a bigger than usual audience for the slot in Scotland while under-performing across the UK, evidencing again the appetite of audiences in Scotland for network content which reflects their nation. There was more network comedy with a Scottish flavour in Two Doors Down produced by Â鶹Éç Scotland, and a further series of Still Game.

There was innovative content for the 2015 Scottish Election aimed at younger audiences like Gary: Tank Commander – Election Special which featured interviews with Scottish party leaders. Council members noted that coverage of the EU referendum debate appeared to build, to some degree, on the Â鶹Éç’s experience gained during the Scottish referendum. Audiences for TV news in Scotland have remained broadly steady. Usage of online news from Â鶹Éç Scotland continues to grow; major stories can attract more than 2 million UK page views.

Other TV programming for audiences in Scotland ranged from new comedy drama West Skerra Light to factual content such as Fair Isle and New Town, on the creation of Edinburgh’s Georgian suburb. There were high appreciation scores for Scotland’s Game on the history of Scottish football, though some in the audience considered it overly focused on teams based in Glasgow. One of the most highly appreciated programmes of the autumn was Â鶹Éç Albas Jimmy Johnstone on the life of the legendary Celtic winger.

Â鶹Éç Radio Scotland listenership remained broadly steady, continuing to reach nearly a fifth of all adults in Scotland. Listening to the station on a digital platform continued to increase and now exceeds 40 per cent. The station continued to evolve and experiment, airing a digital pop-up station (Radio ScotlandMusic Extra) for a week in November offering a range of musical genres.

The Â鶹Éç in Scotland 2007-2017

The closure of the Trust offers an opportunity to assess progress against the audience priorities identified by the Council since it was set up in 2007. Although varying in detail from year to year, these priorities can be seen in retrospect to have reflected five key recurring themes: the preservation of universality of access to Â鶹Éç services; improved portrayal and representation of Scotland on the Â鶹Éç networks, and local services which meet more fully the needs of a devolved nation; the creation of a Gaelic TV channel; a re-assessment of the Â鶹Éç’s approach to impartiality in news and current affairs; and the development of some form of locally-based governance for the Â鶹Éç in Scotland.

There have been developments, some of them significant, in all of these areas. Network TV production in Scotland has risen from very low volumes in 2007 to a more proportionate amount of total Â鶹Éç production today. There has been a significant improvement in the quality and range of TV programming for audiences in Scotland, and in Â鶹Éç Scotland’s presence on social media. A Gaelic TV channel was launched in 2008, in partnership with MG Alba. It has exceeded the audience targets set for it by the Trust, improved the range of quality programming available to audiences, and helped set higher creative standards for the sector in Scotland. However there has been a disappointing lack of progress, to date, on network representation of Scotland and improving the balance of Scottish news to meet contemporary needs. 

1.    Universality of access

There are sections of the audience which lack adequate access to DAB and broadband. Throughout the period the Council reminded the Â鶹Éç of the need to provide maximum access to its content on all digital platforms. The Â鶹Éç’s new Agreement requires it to support digital radio switchover until availability is substantially equal to current analogue levels. Although provision of broadband access is not a responsibility of the Â鶹Éç, the Trust pressed the Executive to maximise distribution of its content, bearing value for money in mind.

In 2010 Radio Scotland reception was expanded to cover most of the Perth to Inverness section of the A9 after the Council raised audience concerns about safety in bad weather            conditions.

The Â鶹Éç planned to displace 13 radio stations from Freeview to facilitate carriage of Â鶹Éç Alba in 2011. The Council advised the Â鶹Éç to explore alternative strategies. The number of stations to be displaced was reduced to 10, of which five have since been restored.

2.    Portrayal and representation

Trust research consistently showed that many Scots do not consider the Â鶹Éç good at reflecting their lives, especially in news and drama. Issues around news have been covered above. The Council advised that there should be a Â鶹Éç strategy for consistent provision of high-quality network TV drama resonant of Scotland to meet audience demand and reflect Scottish writing and production talent. Progress has been faltering. There has been network success with Shetland and, in comedy, Still Game. River City performs very strongly, but is not shown across the UK. Members believe the potential of Scottish drama is not fully realised by the Â鶹Éç and that the centralised commissioning model is a major contributing factor.  Members welcome the proposal announced in February for a Scottish channel, and enhanced network output from Scotland, and noted the emphasis laid by the Â鶹Éç on the importance of better portraying Scotland to itself. We believe that to achieve authentic representation of Scottish perspectives, the final say in commissioning programmes made in and about Scotland – local and network – should rest in Scotland.

We believe that there has been some improvement in the diversity of on-screen talent at Â鶹Éç Scotland, especially in the prominence of female journalists. However there is scope for further progress in the representation of Scotland’s demographic diversity in all areas of Â鶹Éç Scotland’s activities.

3.    Gaelic channel

The Trust and its Audience Council in Scotland played significant roles in the regulatory approval of Â鶹Éç Alba, a partnership between the Â鶹Éç and the Gaelic broadcasting agency MG Alba. The Trust approved the launch of Â鶹Éç Alba on cable, satellite and broadband in 2008. It was clear that Alba should have an educational role, and set audience targets to ensure value for money for licence payers. Carriage on Freeview came in 2010 following a Trust review of the channel’s performance against these targets. The channel has been a creative and audience success. The Council welcomes the inclusion in the new Charter of an obligation on the Â鶹Éç to provide a Gaelic language TV in partnership with MG Alba. The Council welcomes the additional investment in the channel while noting the continuing disparity with the Welsh language channel S4C. The Council hopes that in making “the biggest single investment in broadcast content in Scotland in over twenty years”, some extra resources may be found for Â鶹Éç Radio nan Gàidheal. Engagement with Gaelic-speaking audiences for the Trust’s nations service review in 2015/16 reinforced members’ appreciation of the indispensable role played by that station.  While Â鶹Éç Alba serves speakers and non-speakers, Radio nan Gàidheal directly addresses the former. It is a laboratory of the living language and an anchor of the culture.

4.    Impartiality

One of the first actions of the Trust was to endorse a report commissioned by the former Â鶹Éç Governors y.  Trustees then instituted a series of impartiality reviews on topics like business, science and news coverage of the UK which have led to significant developments in Â鶹Éç journalism.

In spite of this, sections of the audience took issue with the Â鶹Éç’s political impartiality over its coverage of the referendums of 2014 and, to a lesser extent, in 2016. Though the Â鶹Éç remains the UK’s most trusted broadcaster, the level of that trust has fluctuated in recent years. The views of those in the audience in Scotland who question the Â鶹Éç’s impartiality should be acknowledged, and a considered response should be made. 

As noted above, the Audience Council Scotland’s Charter submission suggested that the Â鶹Éç now reassess audience expectations of its journalism and adjust its editorial guidelines accordingly. Members also believe that effective ways should be found of raising audience awareness of both the scope and the limits of the Â鶹Éç’s role.

5.    Governance

 The Â鶹Éç governance system (comprising the Trust and the Â鶹Éç Executive Board) has delivered major enhancements for audiences in Scotland such as the creation of a Gaelic channel and a significant increase in network production north of the border. However, the system has not been able to respond to aspirations for more consistent provision of Scottish drama on the networks, or development of news and current affairs programming in Scotland to meet contemporary needs. 

The Council notes that while the UK has devolved, decision-making in the Â鶹Éç seems to have moved closer to the centre. The new, unitary board established by the new Charter should help to shorten lines of decision-making which have often appeared attenuated. In their Charter submission, members identified two further components which would help bring Â鶹Éç decision-making closer to the audience in Scotland:

• There should be a description of the level of service which licence payers in Scotland can expect from the Â鶹Éç, in order to provide a common reference point for regulators, competitors, audiences and the Â鶹Éç itself.
• There should be a Board of Management for Â鶹Éç Scotland chaired by the non-executive member for Scotland who sits on the Â鶹Éç’s top board. 

Together, these would provide clarity about the Â鶹Éç’s offer in Scotland and a visible mechanism for holding it to account in Scotland within the Â鶹Éç’s overall unitary structure.

Future priorities and considerations for the new Â鶹Éç Board

1. There should be Â鶹Éç network television commissioners based in Scotland with the authority and resources to commission a proportionate amount of network content which represents Scotland and its creative talent, especially in drama. The Â鶹Éç Board, and failing that Ofcom, should set performance indicators to measure the Â鶹Éç’s representation of the diversity of the contemporary UK, including diversity within Scotland.        
2. The Â鶹Éç should research audience understandings of the concept of impartiality, publish and consult on the results, and adjust the Â鶹Éç’s approach accordingly. The Â鶹Éç should consider whether, in an unregulated digital universe, there may be a need for Â鶹Éç journalism not only to report truthfully (as it does), but also to challenge untruths reported by others. 
3. The Â鶹Éç should provide news not only from a UK perspective but also from the perspective of each UK nation, having regard to specific circumstances in each one.
4. Â鶹Éç Gaelic services should be entirely funded from the centre, not from Â鶹Éç Scotland’s budget, and the Â鶹Éç should set a strategy to resolve any inappropriate disparity in the funding of Â鶹Éç indigenous minority language services across the UK.
5. As part of the new governance and regulatory arrangements, the Â鶹Éç Board or Ofcom should set a clear description of the level of service which licence payers in Scotland can expect to receive. There should be a board of management for Â鶹Éç Scotland chaired by the non-executive member for Scotland.