LEAGUE: BBC NEWS REVIEW WELCOMED

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The Celtic League General Secretary has told the BBC that he welcomes the decision to review the content of network news. Rhisiart Tal-e-bot says he awaits with interest the result of the review and trust it will ensure better news coverage in the Celtic countries The full text of the General

Cathal Ó Luain Par Celtic League le 14/12/07 7:35

The full text of the General Secretary's letter is set out below:

"Sir Michael Lyons Chairman of BBC Board of Governors BBC Trust Unit, Room 211 35 Marylebone High Street London W1U 4AA.

trust.enquiries [at] ...

Dear Sir Michael Lyons

Content on network news programmes

The Celtic League welcomes the decision by the BBC Trust to review the content on its BBC network to adequately reflect the news and factual coverage of the Celtic nations.

We strongly feel that the BBC has largely ignored the political developments that have taken place over the last ten years in the Celtic territories, which in our view are poorly served by the BBC news network. This has especially been the case since devolution in Alba/Scotland, Cymru/Wales and the North of Ireland. The new devolved Governments have had and will continue to have an increasingly important role in shaping the lives of the populations of Alba/Scotland, Cymru/Wales and the North of Ireland and as such should be portrayed by the BBC in a more significant and meaningful way.

In addition, in our view, Cornwall is also poorly serviced by the BBC network and the Celtic League has made several complaints to this end in the past. For example, in recent months Cornwall Council's application for unitary authority status was approved by the Government despite widespread public and institutional disagreement. However, little or nothing of this news has been reported on by the BBC's wider network.

The BBC should ensure that the money it obtains from the licence fees it collects goes towards proportionately reflecting the everyday lives and concerns of the peoples within the communities it purports to serve. Failure to do so can only be interpreted as tantamount to deliberate exclusion and for many years now the BBC network has appeared to do just that in relation to the Celtic countries, favouring an England-Centric perspective.

It is our belief that the only real alternative is to fully devolve broadcasting. For this reason the following resolution was passed at our 2007 AGM in Cymru/Wales in September:

The Celtic League believes that the limited coverage of Cornish/Scottish/Welsh politics by the BBC in London on its network news programmes demonstrates that it is mostly interested in news items that only affect England.

This AGM calls on Cornwall County Council (and its successor), the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd to campaign for the full devolution of broadcasting to Cornwall, Scotland and Wales and calls on Celtic League members to consider withdrawing their TV licence payment in protest.

We nevertheless look forward to the publication of your independent review by Professor Anthony King to be published in the summer of 2008 and look forward to him making the sort of recommendations our members have been hoping for, for some time.

Yours sincerely

Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary"

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