Riddoch Reels off List of Questions for BBC Scotland

A list of questions BBC Scotland should answer is being reeled off today by The Scotsman columnist, Lesley Riddoch.

Questioning why an appearance last week at a Scottish Paliament committee by BBC director-general, Mark Thompson, didn't result in a 'skelping', Riddoch speculates that it was “safer to talk underfunding than editorial policy”.

At which point, she ranges across Good Morning Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight Scotland (and how STV's Scotland Tonight “has picked up a sizeable audience with a fresher, less pummelling programme where guests visibly relax instead of steeling themselves to battle remorseless negativity”) and several other concerns.

She ends: “Does Scotland have more murders than anywhere else or just more daily reports outside murder trials? Do we have less aptitude for actually playing sport or just more TV hours of men watching football? Do we have more poverty or just more films about 'chancers' like Marvin on The Scheme?

“Some big questions need to be raised about the BBC – but who dares ask?”